Family doctors describe an inbox burden shaped by workload and software
A review of physicians' experiences linked fragmented systems and complex tasks with frustration, duplicated work, and difficult trade-offs around patient access.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Family physicians described inbox management as complex patient-care work spread across fragmented systems. The abstract highlights duplicated tasks, workload pressures, and concerns about making decisions without enough information. It also lists ways of managing this work, but supplies no comparative results showing whether these approaches improve physicians' wellbeing or patient outcomes.
The review included only English-language publications. In this abstract-based account, the frequency of each problem and the effectiveness of management strategies remain uncertain because the abstract supplies no estimates for them.
Care outside the consultation
Inbox work included prescription renewals, laboratory results, and messages. Physicians reported tension between being accessible to patients and keeping workloads manageable, alongside frustration with duplicated or unnecessary administrative tasks.
Strategies were described
Reported approaches included redesigning electronic records, delegating tasks, and coordinating prescription renewals with visits. The abstract describes these options without providing comparative results that establish whether any approach reduces the burden.
The original publication
Family physician perspectives on managing indirect patient care activities in the electronic inbox: a systematic mixed studies review.
Scholes AK, Elma A, Cernat A et al.
Fam Pract · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41269285
- Record checked
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