Is digital transformation in healthcare contributing to provider burnout?

A group of former and current providers convened today in a HIMSS21 Global Conference Digital Session to discuss how digital transformation can be both contributing to and alleviating burnout.

It’s no secret that healthcare has a clinician burnout problem.

In fact, prior to the pandemic, 42% of physicians reported being burned out – a slight decrease from previous years, according to the American Medical Association. But, like many problems that existed pre-COVID-19, the pandemic only added to the issue, since 49% of physicians said they felt burned out during the last year, the AMA found.

Some experts have pitched that one of the saving graces during the pandemic – digital transformation in healthcare – could also be used to ease clinician burnout. But others aren’t so sure, and think that emerging technologies could actually be adding to the problem.

A group of former and current providers convened today in a HIMSS21 Global Conference Digital Session to discuss how digital transformation can be both contributing to and alleviating burnout.

Beyond what’s going on in healthcare, digital transformation is happening in nearly all aspects of life, making it more difficult to separate from technology, Isil Arican, MS, the director of Ambulatory EHR Services at Stanford Children’s Health, said during the panel.