• Revenue Cycle Management
  • COVID-19
  • Reimbursement
  • Diabetes Awareness Month
  • Risk Management
  • Patient Retention
  • Staffing
  • Medical Economics® 100th Anniversary
  • Coding and documentation
  • Business of Endocrinology
  • Telehealth
  • Physicians Financial News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cardiovascular Clinical Consult
  • Locum Tenens, brought to you by LocumLife®
  • Weight Management
  • Business of Women's Health
  • Practice Efficiency
  • Finance and Wealth
  • EHRs
  • Remote Patient Monitoring
  • Sponsored Webinars
  • Medical Technology
  • Billing and collections
  • Acute Pain Management
  • Exclusive Content
  • Value-based Care
  • Business of Pediatrics
  • Concierge Medicine 2.0 by Castle Connolly Private Health Partners
  • Practice Growth
  • Concierge Medicine
  • Business of Cardiology
  • Implementing the Topcon Ocular Telehealth Platform
  • Malpractice
  • Influenza
  • Sexual Health
  • Chronic Conditions
  • Technology
  • Legal and Policy
  • Money
  • Opinion
  • Vaccines
  • Practice Management
  • Patient Relations
  • Careers

EHR use associated with upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms

Article

Physicians who practice at facilities at which electronic health record systems are used have a high prevalence of computer-associated upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms, according to research recently published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

Physicians who practice at facilities at which electronic health record (EHR) systems are used have a high prevalence of computer-associated upper extremity musculoskeletal symptoms (UEMSs), according to research recently published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

The investigators administered a 20-minute cross-sectional survey in primary care clinics at two academically affiliated centers in San Diego; both use EHR systems that require extensive keyboard and/or computer mouse use. Fifty-seven physicians completed the survey.

Forty-eight percent of participants reported moderate to severe UEMSs attributable to computer use. Those whose scores were higher on a visual analog scale used by the researchers reported more EHR sessions and more hours of computer use per week compared with other respondents. Sex, age, body mass index, employer, and years of EHR use had no significant effect on physicians' scores.

The authors said they believe that their study is the first to examine UEMSs and physician EHR use, and that their results echo those of non-physician computer users. They noted that UEMSs are associated with the longest absence from work among service-sector workplace injuries and often can result in multiple episodes of lost work time.

Future studies could determine whether modification of EHR systems to minimize computer mouse use would result in fewer UEMSs, said the researchers.

Related Videos
Kyle Zebley headshot
Kyle Zebley headshot
Kyle Zebley headshot
Michael J. Barry, MD
Hadi Chaudhry, President and CEO, CareCloud
Claire Ernst, JD, gives expert advice
Arien Malec
remote patient monitoring