To Combat Physician Burnout and Improve Care, Fix the Electronic Health Record

After a blizzard of hype surrounding the electronic health record, health professionals are now in full backlash mode against this complex new tool. They are rightly seen as a major cause of professional burnout among physicians and nurses: Clinicians are spending almost half their professional time typing, clicking and checking boxes on electronic records. They can and must be made into useful, easy-to-use tools that liberate, rather than oppress, clinicians. This article contains a number of ideas for achieving this goal.