As primary care physicians, our goal is simple: provide the best care possible to our patients, who are at the heart of our work and the reason we choose this demanding field.
But let’s be honest – the growing administrative load in primary care is unsustainable. The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) has reported that nearly 2.3 million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor. With more physicians retiring and fewer young doctors stepping into family medicine, this load will only continue to grow and become overwhelming unless we find a better way.
Digital health tools are essential in reducing this administrative burden and addressing barriers to health care across Ontario. These tools have made a huge difference in my practice and are essential to reducing administrative burden, addressing physician burnout and improving our health-care system. Those of us who made the switch from paper records to electronic medical records (EMRs) remember that while it may have been a headache at first, it truly transformed the care experience for us and our patients. Now, as more digital tools become available, we have another opportunity to boost efficiency.
A 2023 survey from the Ontario College of Family Physicians found that family physicians spend an average of 40 per cent of their time on administrative tasks. From charting to prescribing, our daily routine is bogged down with paperwork. The biggest benefit of digital health tools in my practice has been the time saved by cutting down paperwork and streamlining workflows while keeping patient records accurate.
Effective record-keeping and documentation are central to our overarching obligation to provide our patients with high-quality care. However, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) is also actively encouraging and emphasizing the need for effective clinical documentation to ensure accuracy and protect clinicians in instances of potential liability or complaints. Tools like AI scribes for notetaking and e-Prescribing for logging medications can cut down the time we spend on administrative tasks drastically while helping to ensure our records are comprehensive.
As the practice of medicine becomes increasingly fragmented, the need for a more connected, collaborative approach to health care has never been more apparent. To achieve this, improved communication between family doctors and the rest of a patient’s care team is essential. E-Prescribing can play a valuable role in this by helping to ensure that everyone involved in a patient’s care can quickly get on the same page.
In my practice, the use of an e-prescribing service has significantly improved how I communicate with pharmacies. It integrates seamlessly with my EMR and the pharmacy’s software; pharmacists can easily contact me for routine prescription repeats, and I can quickly issue or refill prescriptions. This eliminates the need for manual writing, logging and faxing, and keeps all communication centralized.
Digital tools also help coordinate care with secondary and tertiary care teams. Whether it’s referring a patient to a specialist or managing chronic conditions, these tools provide line of sight into a patient’s medical history and interactions within the health-care system. With e-Prescribing, this includes any medications prescribed by other care team members, helping to ensure that treatment plans are coordinated, appropriate and effective.
Digital health tools, however, are not a complete solution to the broader challenges facing family medicine. The reality is that systemic changes are needed to address issues such as clinician burnout and the shortage of primary care physicians.
One seemingly small, yet significant step we can take to make our work more sustainable is better prioritizing continuous learning and adaptation. By staying open to new technologies, we can reduce the burdens that contribute to clinician burnout. This, in turn, can help make the practice of family medicine more attractive to new physicians.
During my time at McMaster University, I have seen the growing hesitancy among medical students to pursue family medicine, as evidenced by the increasing number of unfilled family medicine residency spots. We owe it to the next generation of clinicians, our patients and ourselves to find a more sustainable way forward.
By embracing digital health tools and continuous learning, we can reduce unnecessary administrative burdens and focus on what truly matters: providing excellent patient care.
While digital health tools are just one piece of the puzzle, they are a critical step toward a more sustainable and fulfilling practice.
