Time and motion study of anesthesiologists' workflow in German hospitals.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to investigate anesthesiologists' workflow in real time.


METHODS
Anesthesiologists were observed for a total of 60 workdays. All tasks performed during this time were recorded in real time.


RESULTS
The anesthesiologists were shadowed for a total of 517:16:36 hours. The average workday lasted 08:37:17 hours. Overall they spent 28.5% of each workday on indirect patient care, 14.7% on direct patient care and 18.8% on administrative work. Communication took up 19.9% of anesthesiologists' time, breaks and disruptions 15.2% and other job tasks 2.9%.


CONCLUSIONS
The results comprise objective data about the workflow and working conditions in anesthesiology. We found support of the large imbalance between the direct patient care and the heavy administrative workload reported by physicians. These results may be useful in future efforts to improve anesthesiologists' working conditions and workflow optimization.
Institute of Occupational Medicine, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Free University and Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
Inka
I
Hauschild
Karin
K
Vitzthum
Burghard F
BF
Klapp
David A
DA
Groneberg
Stefanie
S
Mache
D000328:Adult; D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002322:Career Mobility; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D003625:Data Collection; D004282:Documentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008432:Mathematical Computing; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs; D012984:Software; D013317:Strikes, Employee; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance; D057188:Workflow; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data