Task and Time Analysis of Intern Physicians in the Emergency Department: Multicenter Cross-sectional Study.
- Author:
Sung Phil CHUNG
1
;
Je Sung YOU
;
Min Joung KIM
;
Young Hoon YOON
;
Dae Young HONG
;
Yoo Sang YOON
;
Junho CHO
;
Kyung Woo LEE
;
Jun Ho KANG
;
Kyungwon LEE
;
Byeong Jo CHUN
;
Ji Ho RYU
;
Seung Whan KIM
;
Jang Young LEE
;
Hoon LIM
;
Su Jin KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea. emstar@yuhs.ac
- Publication Type:Multicenter Study ; Original Article
- Keywords:
Hospital Emergency Service;
Time and motion studies;
Internship
- MeSH:
Cross-Sectional Studies*;
Emergencies;
Emergency Medical Technicians;
Emergency Service, Hospital*;
Humans;
Internship and Residency;
Learning;
Patient Care;
Time and Motion Studies;
Transportation
- From:Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
2014;25(3):231-237
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: This study was conducted in order to describe how intern physicians in the emergency department (ED) spent their time, and the frequency of tasks performed by them. METHODS: This was an observational, time-motion study for 15 intern physicians in 15 emergency centers. Observers in each hospital shadowed interns for a 60-minute period, two times, both day and night shift. They recorded time spent on various activities, type and number of activities. The proportion of activity that can be replaced by other staff members was calculated. RESULTS: Average number of duty hours of interns was 80.9 hours (63~87.8) per week. A total of 662 activities were observed during 30 hours. Interns' activities were classified as direct patient care 28.2%, personal time 24.2%, documentation 17.0%, procedures 16.7%, communication 8.1%, transportation 2.6%, indirect patient care 2.0%, learning activity 0.8%, and administrative work 0.4%. The proportion of procedural task showed negative correlation with the number of emergency medical technicians (r=-0.710, p=0.003). The proportion of activity that can be replaced by staff members other than doctors was 24.3% (0~47%) of time, except personal or learning activity. CONCLUSION: Results of this study showed that only 24.3% of interns' activity in the emergency department could be replaced by staff members other than doctors. Because the proportion of activities that could be replaced was variable among hospitals, each hospital should perform task analysis of interns' activity in order to forecast alternative manpower.
