Clinical Communication in the EHR: Balancing Patient Expectations, Safety, and Burnout

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Clinical communications have undergone major changes in the last 15 years, including the introduction of patient portals for direct communication with physicians/APPs and EHR-based inpatient provider messaging platforms. The speed and scale of these transitions have practice-altering consequences for patient expectations/care quality, patient safety, and physician/APP burnout. In this panel, we hope to discuss these three issues, highlight their impacts on inpatient and outpatient otolaryngology practice, and posit some best practices for communication system transitions.

The first half of the session will focus on outpatient messaging through patient portals, which have allowed high volumes of messages to enter provider inboxes at all hours. Patient expectations of communication and message turnaround time have certainly shifted in the last few years, while provider burnout has risen concomitantly. Additionally, many providers have expressed concerns with how red flag messages can become lost in the deluge of non-urgent ones. We will discuss with panelists the rise of patient messaging platforms, strategies to manage patient expectations and triage concerns to appropriate communication platforms, and future artificial intelligence/automated messaging technologies on the horizon.

The second half of the session will focus on inpatient communication between providers and the impact of new EHR-integrated messaging platforms. In some hospitals, these chats have fully replaced traditional paging for minor communication as well as consults and emergency activation. We will discuss with panelists safety issues that arise in communication system transition as well as unique challenges around messaging culture and inpatient messaging burden, particularly for residents and fellows.