Quantifying nursing workflow in medication administration.
New medication administration systems are showing promise in improving patient safety at the point of care, but adoption of these systems requires significant changes in nursing workflow. To prepare for these changes, the authors report on a time-motion study that measured the proportion of time that nurses spend on various patient care activities, focusing on medication administration-related activities. Implications of their findings are discussed.
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001900:Boston; D003142:Communication; D003625:Data Collection; D004282:Documentation; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000451:nursing*; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D007587:Job Description; D008510:Medication Systems, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015401:Nursing Administration Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009737:Nursing Records; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D019370:Observation; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*