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Methodology for Establishing a Community-Wide Life Laboratory for Capturing Unobtrusive and Continuous Remote Activity and Health Data
Published on: July 27, 2018
Exploring the translational impact of a home telemonitoring intervention using time-motion study
Rhonda Cady1, Stanley Finkelstein, Bruce Lindgren
1Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. cadyx010@umn.edu
Summary
Automated review in home telemonitoring studies requires more time for data review activities. Time-motion methodology can evaluate workflow impacts before clinical implementation.
Area of Science:
- Industrial Engineering
- Health Informatics
- Clinical Workflow Analysis
Background:
- Home telemonitoring offers improved clinical outcomes but generates substantial data.
- Automating data surveillance with clinical decision support can mitigate data overload.
- Evaluating workflow impacts is crucial for successful clinical translation of telemonitoring interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure time spent on activities during home spirometry telemonitoring.
- To compare manual nurse review versus automated review workflows.
- To assess potential workflow effects of automated review in a clinical setting.
Main Methods:
- Utilized time-motion methodology, an industrial engineering technique.
- Conducted direct observation of research nurses using snap-back timing.
- Coded observed tasks using predefined and newly defined work activities.
Main Results:
- Established observer reliability for data collection.
- Recorded 938 task observations over 35 hours.
- Automated review group spent significantly more time on data review activities.
Conclusions:
- Implementing automated review may introduce new work activities into clinical workflows.
- Time-motion studies provide a framework for evaluating intervention workflow impacts.
- This methodology aids in assessing interventions before research-to-clinical translation.
