TY - JOUR
T1 - Nurses' Time Allocation and Multitasking of Nursing Activities
T2 - A Time Motion Study
AU - Yen, Po Yin
AU - Kellye, Marjorie
AU - Lopetegui, Marcelo
AU - Saha, Abhijoy
AU - Loversidge, Jacqueline
AU - Chipps, Esther M.
AU - Gallagher-Ford, Lynn
AU - Buck, Jacalyn
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Nurses have been required to provide more patient-centered, efficient, and cost effective care. In order to do so, they need to work at the top of their license. We conducted a time motion study to document nursing activities on communication, hands-on tasks, and locations (where activities occurred), and compared differences between different time blocks (7am-11am, 11am-3pm, and 3pm-7pm). We found that nurses spent most of their time communicating with patients and in patient rooms. Nurses also spent most of their time charting and reviewing information in EHR, mostly at the nursing station. Nurses' work was not distributed equally across a 12-hour shift. We found that greater frequency and duration in hands-on tasks occurred between 7am-11am. In addition, nurses spent approximately 10% of their time on delegable and non-nursing activities, which could be used more effectively for patient care. The study results provide evidence to assist nursing leaders to develop strategies for transforming nursing practice through re-examination of nursing work and activities, and to promote nurses working at top of license for high quality care and best outcomes. Our research also presents a novel and quantifiable method to capture data on multidimensional levels of nursing activities.
AB - Nurses have been required to provide more patient-centered, efficient, and cost effective care. In order to do so, they need to work at the top of their license. We conducted a time motion study to document nursing activities on communication, hands-on tasks, and locations (where activities occurred), and compared differences between different time blocks (7am-11am, 11am-3pm, and 3pm-7pm). We found that nurses spent most of their time communicating with patients and in patient rooms. Nurses also spent most of their time charting and reviewing information in EHR, mostly at the nursing station. Nurses' work was not distributed equally across a 12-hour shift. We found that greater frequency and duration in hands-on tasks occurred between 7am-11am. In addition, nurses spent approximately 10% of their time on delegable and non-nursing activities, which could be used more effectively for patient care. The study results provide evidence to assist nursing leaders to develop strategies for transforming nursing practice through re-examination of nursing work and activities, and to promote nurses working at top of license for high quality care and best outcomes. Our research also presents a novel and quantifiable method to capture data on multidimensional levels of nursing activities.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062379529&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
C2 - 30815156
AN - SCOPUS:85062379529
SN - 1559-4076
VL - 2018
SP - 1137
EP - 1146
JO - AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings. AMIA Symposium
JF - AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings. AMIA Symposium
ER -