Pedometer-measured physical activity among emergency physicians during shifts

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Sports Medicine
• Medical Research

Background:

• Wearable technology like pedometers is increasingly popular for tracking physical activity.
• Quantifying physical activity among Emergency Physicians using objective measures is lacking.
• Understanding physician activity levels is crucial for promoting well-being and optimizing performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the step count of on-duty Emergency Physicians.
• To provide the first characterization of physical activity in this professional group.
• To compare physical activity levels between residents and attending physicians.

Main Methods:

• Fifty-one Emergency Physicians (34 residents, 17 attending) wore research-grade accelerometers (Empatica E4).
• Data was collected during routine clinical care in the Emergency Department.
• A validated algorithm estimated step counts from accelerometer data.

Main Results:

• The cohort averaged 577 steps per hour, totaling 4950 steps per shift (approx. 2.6 miles).
• Residents walked significantly more steps per hour (595.9) than attending physicians (563.0) (p=0.02).
• Over 1500 hours of accelerometer data were analyzed.

Conclusions:

• Emergency Physicians achieve roughly half the recommended daily step count during shifts.
• Physical activity levels differ between resident and attending Emergency Physicians.
• Further research may explore interventions to increase physician physical activity.