Understanding the role of Foundation doctors through a self-reported time-mapping pilot study

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Workforce Planning
• Physician Well-being

Background:

• Declining applications to speciality training among Foundation doctors are linked to administrative burdens and burnout.
• A pilot study explored a real-time self-reporting tool to map Foundation doctors' elective activities.
• Self-reporting offers an efficient, low-cost method for repeated measures and scalability in workforce analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the utility of a time-mapping tool for analyzing Foundation doctors' daily activities.
• To identify work imbalances and inform strategies for improving physician well-being.
• To provide data for enhanced future workforce planning in medical training programs.

Main Methods:

• Nine Foundation doctors at a District General Hospital participated in the study.
• Participants contemporaneously self-reported work activities during an 'elective' day.
• Outcome measures included mean task duration and time of day activities were performed.

Main Results:

• Analysis of 26 timesheet days revealed significant time allocation to indirect patient tasks (72.9%).
• Direct patient care constituted 18.2% of the workday, with minimal time in theatre (4%).
• Indirect tasks were the primary reason for extended working hours, with no clinical experience logged.

Conclusions:

• A high proportion of indirect tasks among Foundation doctors correlates with burnout.
• Time-mapping is a feasible, scalable, and low-cost methodology for understanding physician activities.
• This approach can inform modernization of Foundation doctor roles and improve job satisfaction.