Observational studyBMJ open2020
Inter-hospital comparison of working time allocation among internal medicine residents using time-motion observations: an innovative benchmarking tool.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Annual Patient EXposure of residents in training over 20 years (APEX-trial): a retrospective analysis from a public teaching hospital.BMJ open · 2026Article
- An exploration of after-hours workloads of trainee medical officers in a South Australian tertiary hospital.Internal medicine journal · 2026Observational
- Article
- Evaluating the Usability and Quality of a Clinical Mobile App for Assisting Physicians in Head Computed Tomography Scan Ordering: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Potential of Assistive Robots in Clinical Nursing: An Observational Study of Nurses' Transportation Tasks in Rural Clinics of Bavaria, Germany.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2024Article
- Residency Program Directors' Perspectives on Overtime Duty Hours and Professional Development Time in Japan.Advances in medical education and practice · 2024Article
- Use of a Real-Time Locating System to Assess Internal Medicine Resident Location and Movement in the Hospital.JAMA network open · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe vast majority of residents' working time is spent away from patients. In hospital practice, many factors may influence the resident's working day structure.Using an innovative method, we aimed to compare working time allocation among internal medicine residents using time-motion observations. The first study goal was to describe how the method could be used for inter-hospital comparison. The secondary goal was to learn about specific differences in the resident's working day structure in university and non-university hospital settings.
designTwo separate time-motion studies. Trained peer-observers followed the residents during weekday day shifts with a tablet, able to record 22 different activities and corresponding context (with patient, phone, colleague or computer).
settingInternal medicine residencies at a university (May-July 2015) and a non-university (September-October 2016) community hospital.
participants28 residents (mean age: 29 years, average postgraduate training: 30 months) at university hospital, 21 residents (mean age: 30 years, average postgraduate training: 17 months) at non-university hospital. OUTCOMES: Time spent with patients and time dedicated to activities directly related to patients; description of main differences of time allocation between hospitals.
resultsCumulatively 1051 hours of observation (566 (university hospital)+486 (non-university hospital)) and 92 day shifts (49+43) were evaluated. Daily working time was 11.5 versus 11.3 hours. A median daily period of 195 min (IQR 179-211, 27.9%) and 116 min (IQR 98-134, 17.2%) (p<0.001) was dedicated to direct patient care, respectively.
conclusionsWe successfully identified differences potentially related to each hospital structure and organisation. Inter-hospital comparisons could help set up interventions aiming to improve workday structure and experience of residents.
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