Electronic Health Record Messaging Disparities Affecting Female Clinicians

Research conducted by Lauren Schiff and her team has shed light on the unequal distribution of electronic health record (EHR) messaging burden among primary care clinicians in the United States. The study, published in the Applied Clinical Informatics journal, found that female clinicians received significantly more patient-initiated medical advice request messages than their male counterparts, resulting in a higher workload. This disparity is largely attributed to patient demographics, with female patients generating more messages than male patients.

Key Takeaways:

• Female clinicians received 68.28 patient-initiated medical advice request messages per month, compared to 49.22 messages for male clinicians, with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.005).
• Female clinicians spent 1.85 minutes per day managing messages, compared to 1.35 minutes for male clinicians, with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.006).
• Response times remained similar between genders, despite the increased workload for female clinicians.
• The study suggests that patient demographics, particularly the higher proportion of female patients in female clinicians' panels, contribute to the messaging disparity.
• The findings highlight a potential source of burnout among female clinicians and underscore the need for workflow optimization and artificial intelligence-driven message triage systems to mitigate the burden.

Statistics:

• 68.28 patient-initiated medical advice request messages per month for female clinicians (p = 0.005)
• 49.22 patient-initiated medical advice request messages per month for male clinicians (p = 0.005)
• 1.85 minutes per day spent managing messages by female clinicians (p = 0.006)
• 1.35 minutes per day spent managing messages by male clinicians (p = 0.006)
• 59 vs. 52 messages generated by female vs. male patient care, respectively (p = 0.001)
• 267 primary care clinicians included in the study

Sources:

• Schiff, L., et al. (2025). The Digital Workload Divide: Investigating Gender Differences in Electronic Health Record Messaging among Primary Care Clinicians. Applied Clinical Informatics, 16(4), 1341-1349.
• NewsRx. (2025, October 21). Studies Conducted by Lauren Schiff et al on Electronic Medical Records Recently Reported (The Digital Workload Divide: Investigating Gender Differences in Electronic Health Record Messaging among Primary Care Clinicians). Information Technology Newsweekly, 831.