By Brandy Pinkerton

For many nurses, Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have become a persistent source of stress and dissatisfaction. A 2025 national survey by Black Book Research found that 92% of nurses believe EHR systems have negatively impacted their job satisfaction, with nearly 40% of their shifts now spent on documentation instead of direct patient care. This administrative burden, layered atop staffing challenges and high patient loads, is pushing many nurses to consider leaving their jobs or even the profession entirely. The same survey revealed that 34% of nurses are thinking about leaving their current position within the next year due to EHR-related stress, and 19% are contemplating exiting nursing altogether.

Understanding the Scope and Function of Electronic Health Records (EHRs)

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are comprehensive digital systems that store a patient’s complete medical history, including diagnoses, medications, and lab results. Unlike paper charts, EHRs can be securely accessed and shared by multiple healthcare providers, improving care coordination and decision-making. By centralizing real-time patient data, EHRs help reduce errors, streamline administrative tasks, and enhance the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery.

Workflow Woes: Where EHRs Fall Short

Nurses report that EHRs often don’t fit their clinical workflows, with 88% saying their systems create inefficiencies and redundancies. Training is another pain point: 76% of nurses feel inadequately prepared to use their EHR, leading to frustration and potential documentation errors.

These findings echo those of a KLAS Research report, which found that one-third of nurses experiencing burnout cite EHRs as a major contributor, and 40% of those are likely to leave their organization within two years. Many nurses also feel they lack a voice in EHR governance and that system upgrades rarely address their needs.

A New Approach: Epic’s “SmartUser” Training

Recognizing these challenges, some EHR vendors and health systems are stepping up with new solutions. Epic, one of the nation’s largest EHR providers, recently launched its Nursing SmartUser program—a series of four live, one-hour virtual classes designed to help nurses streamline EHR use and “cut clicks”. Developed with input from eight health systems, these sessions focus on practical tips for inpatient and ambulatory workflows, such as using macros, customizing workspaces, and managing patient messages more efficiently. Nurses can interact with trainers in real time, ask questions, and learn how to personalize their EHR experience.

Early feedback has been positive: nurses report saving 10–15 minutes per shift after completing the courses, and more than 1,000 have already signed up since the program’s launch during National Nurses Week in May 2025. Epic executives say the courses will evolve as new technologies, including artificial intelligence, become more integrated into clinical documentation.

You can sign up here: Nursing — Epic SmartUser Classes

The Bigger Picture: Training, Design, and Organizational Change

Nursing leaders and informatics experts agree that while targeted training helps, broader changes are needed. They advocate for involving nurses in EHR design, providing ongoing, workflow-specific training, and streamlining documentation requirements. Hospitals that invest in these areas are seeing improvements: UCHealth, for example, revamped its onboarding and training strategy, boosting satisfaction by 75% and reducing time spent in Epic by half.

Patricia Sengstack, Chief Nursing Informatics Officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, notes that when nurses know how to use efficient tools, they spend less time at the computer and more time with patients—the heart of nursing. As the nursing staffing challenges continue, addressing EHR usability and documentation burden is increasingly seen as essential not just for nurse satisfaction, but for workforce retention and patient care quality.