Time Pressure During Primary Care Office Visits: a Prospective Evaluation of Data from the Healthy Work Place Study

The relationship between worklife factors, clinician outcomes, and time pressure during office visits is unclear.

To quantify associations between time pressure, workplace characteristics ,and clinician outcomes.

Prospective analysis of data from the Healthy Work Place randomized trial.

168 physicians and advanced practice clinicians in 34 primary care practices in Upper Midwest and East Coast.

Time pressure was present when clinicians needed more time than allotted to provide quality care. Other metrics included work control, work pace (calm to chaotic), organizational culture and clinician satisfaction, stress, burnout, and intent to leave the practice. Hierarchical analysis assessed relationships between time pressure, organizational characteristics, and clinician outcomes. Adjusted differences between clinicians with and without time pressure were expressed as effect sizes (ESs).

Sixty-seven percent of clinicians needed more time for new patients and 53% needed additional time for follow-up appointments. Time pressure in new patient visits was more prevalent in general internists than in family physicians (74% vs 55%, p < 0.05), women versus men (78% vs 55%, p < 0.01), and clinicians with larger numbers of complex psychosocial (81% vs 59%, p < 0.01) and Limited English Proficiency patients (95% vs 57%, p < 0.001). Time pressure in new patient visits was associated with lack of control, clinician stress, and intent to leave (ESs small to moderate, p < 0.05). Time pressure in follow-up visits was associated with chaotic workplaces and burnout (small to moderate ESs, p's < 0.05). Time pressure improved over time in workplaces with values alignment and an emphasis on quality.

Time pressure, more common in women and general internists, was related to chaos, control and culture, and stress, burnout, and intent to leave. Future studies should evaluate these findings in larger and more geographically diverse samples.