Time-motion study

“Hospital Rounding – EHR’s impact”, C-Y Tsai, P. Pancoast, M. Duguid, and C. Tsai, International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 27, No. 7, 2014, pp. 605-615.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the time spent on various tasks during
physician inpatient rounds and to examine the new electronic health records (EHRs) impact on
time distribution.
Design/methodology/approach – Trained observers shadowed hospital physicians to record times
for various tasks before and after EHR implementation.
Findings – Electronic records did not improve efficiency. However, task times were redistributed.
Physicians spent more time reviewing patient charts using time saved from miscellaneous work.
Research limitations/implications – The study focusses solely onwork distribution and the changes
it underwent. It does not include quality measures either on patient results or physician satisfaction.
Practical implications – As EHR provides rich information and easier access to patient records, it
motivates physicians to spend more time reviewing patient charts. Hospital administrators seeking
immediate returns on EHR investment, therefore, may be disappointed.
Originality/value – Unlike previous work, this study was conducted in a non-teaching hospital,
providing a task-time comparison without any educational and team factor influence. The result serves
as a benchmark for many community hospital managers seeking to address the same issue.
Keywords Assessment, Medical records, Process efficiency, Electronic health records,
Hospital rounds, Time-motion study