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Nurses' Time Allocation and Multitasking of Nursing Activities: A Time Motion Study.
Po-Yin Yen1,2, Marjorie Kellye2, Marcelo Lopetegui3
1Institute for Informatics, Department of Medicine, Division of General Medical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
AMIA ... Annual Symposium Proceedings. AMIA Symposium
|March 1, 2019
Summary
Nurses spend most time on communication and charting, with hands-on tasks concentrated in the morning. Reallocating 10% of time from non-nursing tasks can improve patient care and efficiency.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Practice
- Healthcare Management
- Time and Motion Studies
Background:
- Increasing demands for patient-centered, efficient, and cost-effective care necessitate nurses working at the top of their professional license.
- Optimizing nursing workflows is crucial for enhancing healthcare quality and outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To document nursing activities, including communication, hands-on tasks, and locations, using a time-motion study.
- To compare nursing activity distribution across different time blocks within a shift.
- To identify opportunities for nurses to work at the top of their license.
Main Methods:
- A time-motion study was conducted to record nursing activities.
- Data collected included communication, hands-on tasks, and activity locations.
- Activities were analyzed across three time blocks: 7am-11am, 11am-3pm, and 3pm-7pm.
Main Results:
- Nurses dedicated the majority of their time to patient communication and charting within the Electronic Health Record (EHR), primarily at the nursing station.
- Hands-on patient care activities were most frequent and of longer duration during the early morning (7am-11am) time block.
- Approximately 10% of nursing time was spent on delegable or non-nursing tasks, representing a potential area for workflow optimization.
Conclusions:
- Nursing workload and activity distribution are unevenly spread across a shift.
- Re-evaluating nursing tasks and workflows can facilitate nurses working at the top of their license, improving care quality.
- The study introduces a novel, quantifiable method for analyzing multidimensional nursing activities.