Gender and Academic Rank Disparities in Electronic Health Record Burden Among Otolaryngologists

ABSTRACT Objectives The electronic health record (EHR) has benefits but also adds documentation burden that is not equally shared between academic faculty. We hypothesize that male gender and senior academic rank are associated with decreased EHR burden compared to female and junior faculty. Methods Demographics from faculty at participating organizations were combined with 3 years of provider efficiency data. Multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the differences in EHR burden between genders and academic ranks, clustering for otolaryngologist and institution. Results Forty‐six institutions with 914 otolaryngologists (female, n = 283, 31%) were included for analysis. Median hours per day (h/d) spent in EHR tasks related to outpatient visits were 4.3, 3.5, and 3.4 h/d for female assistant, associate, and full professors, respectively; and 3.4, 2.7, and 2.3 h/d for males, likewise in ascending academic rank. These differences between median h/d in ambulatory time were significant across all six subgroups of gender and academic rank ( p < 0.002). Academic seniority, but not gender, was associated with less time in ambulatory tasks after work and on days without scheduled appointments ( p < 0.002). Males and otolaryngologists with higher academic rank were more likely to receive help with notes and orders ( p < 0.002). Conclusions For a typical clinic day, female assistant professors in academic otolaryngology spent nearly twice as much time as their male full professor counterparts did in the EHR completing tasks related to ambulatory patient care. The differential likelihood of faculty receiving help with notes and orders may play a role in this disparity. Level of Evidence 3.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Laryngoscope
Published
2026-02-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.70431
Primary Topic
Electronic Health Records Systems
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Gender and Academic Rank Disparities in Electronic Health Record Burden Among Otolaryngologists

Anna H. Grosz, Andrew M. Vahabzadeh‐Hagh, Hongzhao Ji, Stephanie Misono et al.
The Laryngoscope
Electronic Health Records Systems
article

Gender and Academic Rank Disparities in Electronic Health Record Burden Among Otolaryngologists

Anna H. Grosz, Andrew M. Vahabzadeh‐Hagh, Hongzhao Ji, Stephanie Misono, Theresa Y. Kim, James C. Wang, Jose W. Ruiz, Yassmeen Abdel‐Aty, Mihir K. Bhayani, Jennifer H. Gross, Megan E. Ballard, Katherine Rieth, A. Collins, Priya Krishna, Jeremiah A. Alt, Natalie A. Krane, Elizabeth Guardiani, Adam L. Holtzman, Kathleen Yaremchuk, Nicholas Purdy, Richard T. Kelley, Lyndy J. Wilcox, Carla M. Giannoni, K. Dewan, Orly Coblens, Sachin S. Pawar, Greg Ator, John Paul Giliberto, Mindy R. Rabinowitz, Ashley Elizabeth Kita, Paul Bryson, Thomas L. Carroll, Colin Edwards, Neelu Tummala, Maggie Kuhn, Anaïs Rameau, Sarah R. Akkina, Miriam O'Leary, Vivian Yu, Meha Goyal Fox, Agnes Hurtuk, Nadia Moyhuddin, Alice L. Tang, Melissa Scholes, Lyndsay L. Madden, Hayley Born, Katie Geelan‐Hansen, Christine E. DeMason, Nyssa Fox Farrell, Lauren A. Bohm
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives The electronic health record (EHR) has benefits but also adds documentation burden that is not equally shared between academic faculty. We hypothesize that male gender and senior academic rank are associated with decreased EHR burden compared to female and junior faculty. Methods Demographics from faculty at participating organizations were combined with 3 years of provider efficiency data. Multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the differences in EHR burden between genders and academic ranks, clustering for otolaryngologist and institution. Results Forty‐six institutions with 914 otolaryngologists (female, n = 283, 31%) were included for analysis. Median hours per day (h/d) spent in EHR tasks related to outpatient visits were 4.3, 3.5, and 3.4 h/d for female assistant, associate, and full professors, respectively; and 3.4, 2.7, and 2.3 h/d for males, likewise in ascending academic rank. These differences between median h/d in ambulatory time were significant across all six subgroups of gender and academic rank ( p < 0.002). Academic seniority, but not gender, was associated with less time in ambulatory tasks after work and on days without scheduled appointments ( p < 0.002). Males and otolaryngologists with higher academic rank were more likely to receive help with notes and orders ( p < 0.002). Conclusions For a typical clinic day, female assistant professors in academic otolaryngology spent nearly twice as much time as their male full professor counterparts did in the EHR completing tasks related to ambulatory patient care. The differential likelihood of faculty receiving help with notes and orders may play a role in this disparity. Level of Evidence 3.

The Laryngoscope
Northwestern University (US), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US), Tufts University (US), University of Nebraska at Omaha (US), Children's Hospital of Wisconsin (US), University of Maryland, Baltimore (US), Brigham and Women's Hospital (US), Rush University Medical Center (US), Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (US), Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center (US), Albert Einstein College of Medicine (US), University of Minnesota (US), Loyola University Medical Center (US), Cleveland Clinic (US), MultiCare Health System (US), Kaiser Permanente (US), Johns Hopkins University (US), University of Miami (US), University of Kansas (US), Thomas Jefferson University (US), Emory University (US), Henry Ford Health System (US), University of San Diego (US), University of California, Los Angeles (US), Oregon Health & Science University (US), Duke University (US), Baylor College of Medicine (US), George Washington University (US), Vanderbilt University (US), University of Washington (US), SUNY Upstate Medical University (US), Washington University in St. Louis (US), Cornell University (US), University of Utah (US), University of South Florida (US), Loma Linda University (US), Louisiana State University in Shreveport (US), University of Michigan (US), Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US), University of Minnesota System (US), University of Florida Health (US), The University of Kansas Health System (US), University of Utah Hospital (US), Henry Ford Hospital (US), University of Rochester Medical Center (US), University of Florida (US), University of California San Diego (US), University of Mississippi (US), MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital (US), Methodist Hospital (US), GC Systems (United States) (US), Upstate University Hospital (US), Seattle Children's Hospital (US), Methodist Hospital (US), Michigan Medicine (US), Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (US), MNGI Digestive Health (US), Texas Children's Hospital (US), Wake Forest University (US), Geisinger Health System (US), The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (US), University of Cincinnati (US), University of California, Davis (US), The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
Gender equality
Openalex Percentile: Top 54%
Electronic Health Records Systems
DOISourceOpenAlex
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