On average, physicians spend 5.8 hours working on EHRs for every eight hours they are treating patients, according to a Sept. 11 report from the American Medical Association.
The AMA looked at data from more than 200,000 physicians across a number of different specialties.
Infectious disease specialists were found to spend the most time on EHRs, reaching 8.4 hours per eight hours of patient time. Anesthesiologists spent the least time, with 2.5 hours per eight hours of patient care.
Specialties whose physicians had the highest amount of overall EHR time:
1. Infectious disease: 8.4 hours
2. Endocrinology: 7.7 hours
3. Nephrology: 7.5 hours
4. Primary care: 7.3 hours
5. Hematology: 7.2 hours
Specialties whose physicians spent the least time in the EHR:
1. Anesthesiology: 2.5 hours
2. Orthopedics: 3.3 hours
3. Otorhinolaryngology: 4 hours
4. Surgery: 4 hours
5. Dermatology: 4.3 hours