Care Team Assistants as a Strategy to Reduce Physicians' Administrative Task Burden.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Clinical Operations
• Team-Based Care

Background:

• Physicians face increasing administrative tasks, leading to inefficiencies and reduced job satisfaction.
• Nonclinical Care Team Assistants (CTAs) are emerging to manage inpatient administrative duties.

Purpose of the Study:

• Quantify the administrative task load managed by CTAs.
• Assess the impact of CTAs on resident and hospitalist experiences regarding administrative burden, job satisfaction, and care delivery.

Main Methods:

• Observational time and motion study of CTAs over 15 shifts using a custom Excel tracker.
• Surveys distributed via electronic data capture to evaluate provider experiences with CTAs.

Main Results:

• CTAs spent an average of 6 hours daily on rounding and care coordination.
• Physicians spending <1 hour on admin tasks increased from 20% to 93% with CTA presence.
• 99% reported increased patient care time and improved job satisfaction due to CTAs.

Conclusions:

• Embedded CTAs effectively absorb administrative tasks, reducing physician workload.
• CTAs enable physicians to focus on higher-level clinical responsibilities and practice at the top of their license.