Frustration With Technology and its Relation to Emotional Exhaustion Among Health Care Workers: Cross-sectional Observational Study.
Abstract
<h4>Background</h4>New technology adoption is common in health care, but it may elicit
frustration if end users are not sufficiently considered in their design or trained
in their use. These frustrations may contribute to burnout.<h4>Objective</h4>This
study aimed to evaluate and quantify health care workers' frustration with technology
and its relationship with emotional exhaustion, after controlling for measures of
work-life integration that may indicate excessive job demands.<h4>Methods</h4>This
was a cross-sectional, observational study of health care workers across 31 Michigan
hospitals. We used the Safety, Communication, Operational Reliability, and Engagement
(SCORE) survey to measure work-life integration and emotional exhaustion among the
survey respondents. We used mixed-effects hierarchical linear regression to evaluate
the relationship among frustration with technology, other components of work-life
integration, and emotional exhaustion, with adjustment for unit and health care worker
characteristics.<h4>Results</h4>Of 15,505 respondents, 5065 (32.7%) reported that
they experienced frustration with technology on at least 3-5 days per week. Frustration
with technology was associated with higher scores for the composite Emotional Exhaustion
scale (r=0.35, P<.001) and each individual item on the Emotional Exhaustion scale
(r=0.29-0.36, P<.001 for all). Each 10-point increase in the frustration with technology
score was associated with a 1.2-point increase (95% CI 1.1-1.4) in emotional exhaustion
(both measured on 100-point scales), after adjustment for other work-life integration
items and unit and health care worker characteristics.<h4>Conclusions</h4>This study
found that frustration with technology and several other markers of work-life integration
are independently associated with emotional exhaustion among health care workers.
Frustration with technology is common but not ubiquitous among health care workers,
and it is one of several work-life integration factors associated with emotional exhaustion.
Minimizing frustration with health care technology may be an effective approach in
reducing burnout among health care workers.
Type
Journal articleSubject
biomedical technologyelectronic health records
emotional exhaustion
frustration with technology
health information systems
medical informatics applications
professional burnout
user-centered design
work-life balance
work-life integration
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23670Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.2196/26817Publication Info
Tawfik, Daniel S; Sinha, Amrita; Bayati, Mohsen; Adair, Kathryn C; Shanafelt, Tait
D; Sexton, J Bryan; & Profit, Jochen (2021). Frustration With Technology and its Relation to Emotional Exhaustion Among Health
Care Workers: Cross-sectional Observational Study. Journal of medical Internet research, 23(7). pp. e26817. 10.2196/26817. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23670.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Kathryn C. Adair Boulus
Program Manager
I am the Assistant Director of Well-being and Research at the Duke Center for Healthcare
Safety and Quality. My research and talks examine the topic of healthcare worker well-being.
Various lines of research examine the psychology of burnout and resilience, interpersonal
relationships, self-compassion, mindfulness, tools to enhance well-being, and improving
safety culture. For more info, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HIciiRBM7RwiBU7l
John Bryan Sexton
Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
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