Interruptions were modest but their substantial over-representation among medication tasks raises potential safety concerns. Work patterns were increasingly fragmented with rapid changes between tasks of short length. Nurses spent around 37% of their time with patients which did not change. Time with health professionals other than nurses was low and did not change. Between years 1 and 3 nurses spent more time alone, from 27.5% to 39.4%. In 25% of medication tasks nurses multi-tasked. Interruptions arose at an average rate of two per hour, but medication tasks incurred 27% of all interruptions. Nurses completed an average of 72.3 tasks per hour, with a mean task length of 55 seconds.
Average time doctor spends with patient professional#
Time in professional communication declined (24.0% to 19.2%, P < 0.05). Proportion of time on medication tasks (19.0%) did not change. Time on direct and indirect care increased significantly (respectively 20.4% to 24.8%, P < 0.01 13.0% to 16.1%, P < 0.01). Direct care, indirect care, medication tasks and professional communication together consumed 76.4% of nurses' time in year 1 and 81.0% in year 3. Nurses spent 37.0% of their time with patients, which did not change in year 3. Proportions of time in 10 categories of work, average time per task, time with patients and others, information tools used, and rates of interruptions and multi-tasking were calculated. The validated Work Observation Method by Activity Timing (WOMBAT) method was applied.
Prospective observational study of 57 nurses for 191.3 hours (109.8 hours in 2005/2006 and 81.5 in 2008), on two wards in a teaching hospital in Australia. We aimed to quantify how nurses distribute their time across tasks, with patients, in individual tasks, and engagement with other health care providers and how work patterns changed over a two year period. Few studies have measured how nurses distribute their time across tasks. Time nurses spend with patients is associated with improved patient outcomes, reduced errors, and patient and nurse satisfaction.
0 kommentar(er)
