When it comes to EHRs, satisfaction is not guaranteed

Moving into the technology age isn't without growing pains, according to results of a new survey from the American Academy of Family Physicians.

In fact, only 38% of the 3,088 physicians polled said they were highly satisfied with their EHR systems. Family physicians were asked about ease of documentation, clarity of information display, help in avoiding mistakes, ability to create notes that promote better patient care, availability of useful preventive medicine tools, and ability of the system to process electronic prescriptions. Areas that scored the lowest focused on an EHR’s effect on productivity, effect on physician’s ability to focus on patient care, and vendor support.

Areas that drew praise as it rates to satisfaction included intra-office messaging and tasking, access to information, documented data, and e-prescribing.