Nurses report increased stress levels, and they say a major cause of burnout is ineffective charting — a burden the KLAS Arch Collaborative says places hospitals and health systems can help reduce it.
A new report from KLAS describes how – outlining a three-step process that provider organizations can follow to reduce charting and empower nurses to focus more on patient care .
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
In the American Nurses Foundation’s most recent Mental Health and Wellness survey, of 7,400 nurses who responded between April 24 and May 26, 2023, nearly two-thirds of nurses nurses reported that their work caused them high stress while 45% agreed or strongly agreed that health records added frustration to their day.
After reviewing the data, KLAS researchers said that by knowing and acting on nurses’ feedback, redesigning problematic workflows and addressing knowledge gaps of employees, healthcare organizations can improve nurse productivity and well-being, reduce turnover, and save on recruiting costs.
“Arch Collaborative data shows that ineffective diagramming is a significant waste of time,” KLAS researchers said. “Specifically, 35% of nurses reported spending three or more hours per week on ineffective charting.”
Data identify a link between poor nursing effectiveness and higher rates of burnout.
One nurse responded to Arch Collaborative’s EHR experience survey: “The things that require charting are becoming increasingly ridiculous and making patient care difficult due to the sheer number of charts required ”.
In their new report, researchers outline how the three-step process reduces unproductive tasks, frees up time, and reduces document stress.
“Efforts to reduce unnecessary charting should focus on helping nurses feel that the EHR enhance rather than hinder the delivery of their patient care.”
“Arch Collaborative data indicate that nurses who reported less time on ineffective charting had higher overall satisfaction with the EHR than nurses who reported more ineffective charting.”
The first step to reversing these experiences is knowing where to start, researchers say. To assess nurse chart frustration within an organization, KLAS recommends that providers conduct internal awareness surveys and collect EHR usage data and other sources to inform needs about efficiency and prioritizing work process improvements.
“End user feedback is critical,” they said. “After making changes, measure again to evaluate success.”
Once they identify the problematic workflows most in need of intervention, health systems and hospitals can redesign them and establish a documentation change process, they said.
They note that that redesign team should be multidisciplinary, including front-line nurses, nursing leaders, informatics specialists, and compliance experts.
The third step is to address workflows where knowledge gaps — “rather than cumbersome flow sheets” — are causing nurses to chart frustration.
“Educate nurses about any changes made to the flow sheet based on the opportunities identified in step 2,” the researchers said. They also advise on the use of exception charts as an organizational standard to reduce duplicate charting.
BIGGER TREND
Fixing frustrating day-to-day documentation problems could keep healthcare’s post-pandemic burnout from getting worse if healthcare organizations intervene early and don’t brush it off employee concerns.
In particular, nurses’ enthusiasm for EHR tasks has become a hot issue since the outbreak of the pandemic with improved onboarding, ongoing training, inclusion in governance and Enhanced communication efforts are often cited as a remedy to the nurse burnout crisis.
A 2022 study of KLAS nursing manuals found a significant decline, with only 59% of nurses surveyed finding continuing education helpful compared to 71% of nurses surveyed in year 2020.
Including nurses in EHR governance and decision making is an important approach to take because organizations with multidisciplinary teams see higher EHR satisfaction, the researchers said.
According to KLAS: “Organizations should focus on helping nurses get to the root of the problem, then partner with analysts to find solutions.”
ON PROFILE
“Nurses who reported more than three hours of unproductive work in a week showed higher levels of burnout than those who did not work,” KLAS researchers said in the new report. “With this increased stress, it is not surprising that these nurses also reported a higher likelihood of leaving their organizations.”
Andrea Fox is a senior editor at Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
