Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34133039›Full record

Observational studyJournal of advanced nursing2021

How do nurses spend their time? A time and motion analysis of nursing activities in an internal medicine unit.

Olivia Michel, Alberto-José Garcia Manjon, Jérôme Pasquier, Claudia Ortoleva Bucher

Abstract readObservational Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Observational study in Journal of advanced nursing, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
48citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

48 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Olivia MichelInstitute of Higher Education and Research in Healthcare, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Alberto-José Garcia ManjonLausanne University Hospital, CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Jérôme PasquierCenter for Primary Care and Public Health (Unisanté), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5554-2988
Claudia Ortoleva BucherLa Source School of Nursing, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), Lausanne, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8411-4181

Funding

Lausanne University Hospital
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimTo describe the nature and duration of nursing activities and how much time registered nurses allocate to the different dimensions of their scope of practice in a Swiss university hospital internal medicine ward.

designA single-centre observational descriptive study.

methodUsing a time and motion study, two researchers shadowed healthcare workers (N = 21) during 46 complete work shifts in 2018. They recorded each activity observed in real time using a tablet computer with a pre-registered list of 42 activities classified into 13 dimensions.

resultsA total of 507.5 work hours were observed. Less than one third of registered nurses' work time was spent with patients. They allocated the most time to the dimensions of 'communication and care coordination' and 'care planning', whereas 'optimizing the quality and safety of care', 'integrating and supervising staff' and 'client education' were allocated the least time.

conclusionThis study provided a reliable description of nurses' time use at work. It highlighted suboptimal use of the full scope of nursing practice. IMPACT: Both work organization and culture should be reconsidered to promote better use of nursing skills. Practice optimization should focus on the following three main areas: (1) greater involvement of registered nurses in building relationships and directly caring for patients and their families; (2) better use of registered nurses' skills in the activities required of their proper roles, including nursing clinical assessments and patient education and (3) more systematically updating registered nurses' knowledge.

Indexed as

Clinical CompetenceNursesHumansInternal MedicineUniversitiesinternal medicine hospitalNursesnurses’ rolesnursing care performancenursing scope of practicetime and motion studytime managementwork time use

Identifiers

PMID34133039
PMCPMC8518809

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.