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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Appl Clin Inform 2025; 16(05): 1393-1400
DOI: 10.1055/a-2620-3147
Research Article

Typing Proficiency among Physicians in Internal Medicine: A Pilot Study of Speed and Performance

Authors

  • Francois Bastardot‡   *

    1   Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Medical Directorate, Lausanne, Switzerland
    2   Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
    3   Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
    4   Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • Vanessa Kraege‡   *

    2   Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
    5   Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Innovation and Clinical Research Directorate, Lausanne, Switzerland

  • Julien Castioni

    2   Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
    6   Division of Internal Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
    7   Human Resources Department, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland

  • Alain Petter

    8   Information Technology Department, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland

  • David W. Bates

    3   Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
    4   Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • Antoine Garnier

    9   Department of Medicine, Fribourg Hospital (HFR), Fribourg, Switzerland
    10   Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg (UNIFR), Fribourg, Switzerland

Funding This study was supported by a research grant from the SGAIM Foundation.
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Abstract

Background

Electronic health records (EHRs) are widely implemented and consume nearly half of physicians' work time. Despite the importance of efficient data entry, physicians' typing skills—potential contributors to documentation burden—remain poorly studied.

Objective

This study aims to evaluate the typing skills of physicians and their associations with demographic characteristics and professional roles.

Methods

This cross-sectional pilot study included a convenience sample of physicians (residents, chief residents, and attending physicians) from the internal medicine division of an academic hospital. Participants completed a 1-minute typing test under supervised conditions. The primary outcome was raw typing speed, measured in words per minute (WPM). The secondary outcome was a performance score calculated by subtracting 50 points for each error from the total number of characters typed per minute.

Results

Participation rate was 100% (82/82 physicians). The mean age was 33.7 ± 7.3 years; 7.2 ± 7.1 years since graduation; and 45.1% female. The mean typing speed was 53.4 WPM (range: 31–91 WPM), with 57.3% (47/82) of participants exceeding 50 WPM, a threshold commonly considered professional. Bivariate analysis showed a significant negative association with age (Spearman's ρ = −0.281, p = 0.011), which was not sustained in the multivariable analysis. No significant association was observed with sex, country of diploma, or role. Upon multivariable analysis, performance score showed a significant negative association with age (β = −17.724, p = 0.009) but a positive association with years since graduation (β = 16.850, p = 0.021), suggesting a generation- and experience-related interaction.

Conclusion

Nearly half of physicians exhibited professional-level typing skills, yet overall performance varied widely and was influenced by both generational factors and clinical experience. Given that documentation burden affects clinicians across all skill levels, both individual and systemic strategies—such as improved EHR design and alternative input methods—should be explored.

Keywords

electronic health records - documentation burden - medicine - human–computer interaction

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

As the research focus involves typing performance and does not entail clinical intervention or access to sensitive patient information, the study is not subject to the Swiss Human Research Act (HRA). The local ethics commission confirmed that no formal ethical approval or informed consent was required. All participants were fully informed of the study's objectives, and their data were anonymized prior to analysis to ensure confidentiality.


* These authors contributed equally to this work.




Publication History

Received: 18 November 2024

Accepted: 20 May 2025

Accepted Manuscript online:
26 May 2025

Article published online:
17 October 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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