Reducing Work-related Screen Time in Health Care Workers During Leisure Time (REDUCE-SCREEN)

University of Nebraska

Status: Completed

Conditions: Burnout, Caregiver; Stress

Treatments: Behavioral: Reduce screen time

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05106647

0514-21-EX

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect that uninstalling work email applications from mobile devices during leisure time has on health care worker stress levels.

Full description

Burnout is more common in physicians than in the general population. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has increased burnout and stress levels among health care workers, leading to a peak of 34% of health care workers experiencing burnout symptoms. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of burnout symptoms among health care workers was trending upwards. In fact, most health care workers experience burnout to some degree.

Managing email inboxes and working with electronic health records (EHR) can increase screen time levels for health care workers who use them. High amounts of screen time have been linked to depression and stress in teenagers and adults. EHR digital work is a noted burden on physicians, and inbox management has been linked to physician stress and burnout. A study that measured physician stress during electronic health record inbox work found that accessing and responding to EHR inbox outside of work hours increased stress levels in physicians.

The effect of an intervention that lowers screen time usage in health care workers during leisure time has not been measured. Determining this effect can influence new protocols on inbox and work email management during leisure time for health care workers. This can benefit organizations by improving employee performance, employees by reducing stress and burnout levels, and patients by providing more refreshed patient care. This study aims to determine the effect that uninstalling email from mobile devices during leisure time has on health care worker stress levels.

Enrollment: 520 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 19+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 1. be an active health care worker
• 2. be ≥ 19 years old
• 3. routinely use a smartphone
• 4. have a work email application (e.g., Outlook) installed on their smartphone.

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

520 participants in 2 patient groups

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

This group would complete a survey that measures stress before and after leisure time with no added instructions.

Reduce screen time

Experimental group

Description:

Participants randomized to the intervention group are encouraged to set up an automated response to emails received during their weekend off, reduce their screen time for duration of leisure time, and uninstall work applications from their mobile device. Surveys are sent prior to and after leisure time.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Reduce screen time