--- title: "Study: Doctors Split Time Between Patients and Screens | Sutter Health" description: "A Health Affairs study using EHR data from 471 Sutter primary care physicians found they spend nearly equal time on office visits and desktop medicine." url: "https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/research-innovation/electronic-health-record-logs-indicate-that-physicians-split-time-evenly-between-seeing-patients" --- 1. [Home](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/) / 2. [Research & innovation](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/research-innovation) / 3. Electronic Health Record Logs Indicate That Physicians Split Time Evenly Between Seeing Patients # Electronic Health Record Logs Indicate That Physicians Split Time Evenly Between Seeing Patients And Desktop Medicine. A Health Affairs study using EHR data from 471 Sutter primary care physicians found they spend nearly equal time on office visits and desktop medicine. April 12, 2017 by Sutter Health ![Electronic Health Record Logs Indicate That Physicians Split Time Evenly Between Seeing Patients And Desktop Medicine.](https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/Vitals/research-and-innovation/Electronic-Health-Record-Logs-Indicate-That-Physicians-Split-Time-Evenly-Between-Seeing-Pat-17bccb33.jpg?h=720&iar=0&w=1280 "Electronic ICU Helps Hospitals Handle Influx of Coronavirus Patients") Tai-Seale M, Olson CW, Li J, Chan, AS, Morikawa C, Durbin M, Wang W, Luft HS._Health Affairs._ 2017;36(4):655-662.  [View the study](https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0811) ### ABSTRACT: Time spent by physicians is a key resource in health care delivery. This study used data captured by the access time stamp functionality of an electronic health record (EHR) to examine physician work effort. This is a potentially powerful, yet unobtrusive, way to study physicians’ use of time. We used data on physicians’ time allocation patterns captured by over thirty-one million EHR transactions in the period 2011-14 recorded by 471 primary care physicians, who collectively worked on 765,129 patients’ EHRs. Our results suggest that the physicians logged an average of 3.08 hours on office visits and 3.17 hours on desktop medicine each day. Desktop medicine consists of activities such as communicating with patients through a secure patient portal, responding to patients’ online requests for prescription refills or medical advice, ordering tests, sending staff messages, and reviewing test results. Over time, log records from physicians showed a decline in the time allocated to face-to-face visits, accompanied by an increase in time allocated to desktop medicine. Staffing and scheduling in the physician’s office, as well as provider payment models for primary care practice, should account for these desktop medicine efforts.  **Keywords:**  Electronic Health Record; Physicians; Primary Care. ## Topics [Technology and Health](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/search?facets=%5B%7B%22i%22%3A%22c_healthTopics.name%22%2C%22v%22%3A%5B%22Technology+and+Health%22%5D%7D%5D&verticalKey=articles) ## Related articles ### [A Workplace Built on Purpose and Possibility](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/our-people/a-workplace-built-on-purpose-and-possibility) ### [When Communities Lead Healthcare](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/when-communities-lead-healthcare) ### [Sutter Health Collaborates with OpenEvidence to Bring Evidence-Based, AI-Powered Insights into Physician Workflows](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-health-collaborates-with-openevidence-to-bring-evidence-based-ai-powered-insights-into) ### [Sutter Recognized for Using Technology to Improve Care](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-recognized-for-using-technology-to-improve-care) [See all from Research & innovation](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/research-innovation) ## Check your Vitals Get the latest in health innovation, community impact and patient care from Sutter Health — delivered straight to your inbox. 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