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Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?
W H Cordell1, M L Olinger, P A Kozak
1Emergency Medicine and Trauma Center, Methodist Hospital of Indiana, Indianapolis.
Annals of Emergency Medicine
|May 1, 1994
Summary
Time sources in emergency medical systems show significant variation, averaging 1 minute 45 seconds from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Synchronizing medical clocks to UTC and using digital time sources can improve accuracy.
Area of Science:
- Emergency medicine
- Medical informatics
- Timekeeping standards
Background:
- Accurate timekeeping is critical in emergency medical systems for patient care and data logging.
- Variations in time sources can lead to critical errors in medical response and record-keeping.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the accuracy of various timekeeping devices within emergency medical services.
- To identify discrepancies in time synchronization across emergency departments and EMS systems.
Main Methods:
- A prospective study comparing time sources to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
- Unannounced site visits to five emergency departments and three EMS systems in Indianapolis.
- Recorded displayed times from 152 time sources and calculated accuracy against UTC.
Main Results:
- The average absolute difference from UTC was 1 minute 45 seconds; variations ranged up to 19 minutes 41 seconds.
- 31% of timepieces were slow, 66% were fast, and only 3% were accurate to the second.
- 55% of time sources deviated by one minute or more from UTC.
Conclusions:
- Significant time discrepancies exist within healthcare timekeeping systems.
- Recommendations include synchronizing medical clocks to UTC, implementing automated time-stamping, and using digital clocks with second displays.