A study published in JAMA Network Open found that female surgeons spend more time writing and documenting patient encounters in electronic health record (EHR) systems than male surgeons.
The study, conducted by Karen Malacon and her team at Stanford University Medical Center, analyzed data from 224 surgeons and 222,529 patient encounters in 2022.
The research showed that male surgeons had more patient appointments and completed more medical records each month than female surgeons.
On average, male surgeons had 78.3 appointments and completed 43.0 records monthly, while female surgeons had 57.8 appointments and completed 29.1 records. Both genders spent a similar amount of total time in the EHR system each month, but male surgeons logged in more days.
Female surgeons spent more time on the EHR outside of regular working hours. They logged in more often after hours and spent more time on their notes, writing longer and more detailed documentation than male surgeons. Female surgeons took 4.8 minutes per note, compared to 2.5 minutes for male surgeons, and wrote longer notes overall.
The study suggests that female surgeons face a heavier workload when it comes to documentation, which could lead to burnout and affect their pay. These findings highlight the need to address these issues to create a fairer working environment for all surgeons.
