Nurses Far More Satisfied with EHRs Than Physicians, KLAS Report Finds

Nurses are much more satisfied with their EHRs (electronic health records) than physicians, with some of the strongest satisfaction points related to patient care, according to a new report from KLAS Research.

KLAS’ Arch Collaborative includes a database of more than 70,000 U.S. clinicians and 28,000 nurses. The feedback in this latest report, “The Nurse EHR Experience,” found that nurses achieve significantly higher levels of EHR satisfaction than physicians.

Of the nurses surveyed to date, 62 percent reported are pleased with their EHR; 20 percent said they are frustrated; and 18 percent said they are indifferent. “Because nurses work so widely with the EHR and play such a significant role in care delivery, this report is aimed at understanding where there are opportunities for improvement in the nurse experience and what the nurse experience can teach other groups of clinicians about how to succeed with the EHR,” according to the researchers.

Overall, the net EHR experience score— a snapshot of the overall satisfaction that clinicians report with their EHR environment—for nurses was a 41.7 out of 100, compared to a 16 out of 100 for physicians, according to the KLAS data. The overall score for advanced practice providers (PAs or NPs) was 37.8, and for physician residents or fellows, it was a 31.4.

The report revealed that the trend of higher nurse EHR satisfaction exists across organization types as well, as the most satisfied nurses are those who work outside the U.S., followed closely by nurses who work in children’s hospitals. But regardless of facility type, nurses are more satisfied with the EHR than are physicians.