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Table 4 Total observed time and proportion of time across medication-related tasks, including “with whom” or “how” the task is performed

From: How much time do emergency department physicians spend on medication-related tasks? A time- and-motion study

What

With whom/how

Junior physicians (23:29:44a)

Senior physicians (9:59:14a)

Total (33:28:58a)

Time (h:min:s)

%

Time (h:min:s)

%

Time (h:min:s)

%

Oral communication

 

9:39:05

41.1

7:37:18

76.3

17:16:23

51.6

Retrieve medication informationb

 

3:48:34

16.2

0:56:34

9.4

4:45:08

14.2

 

Patient

3:36:27

37.4

0:54:02

9.0

4:30:29

13.5

 

Next-of-kin

0:26:44

1.9

0:00:48

0.1

0:27:32

1.4

 

Source outside hospitalc

0:07:04

0.5

0:00:00

0.0

0:07:04

0.4

Give medication information

 

0:32:38

2.3

0:22:50

3.8

0:55:28

2.8

 

Patients

0:25:42

1.8

0:18:52

3.1

0:44:34

2.2

 

Next-of-kin

0:06:59

0.5

0:04:24

0.7

0:11:23

0.6

About medications

 

5:17:53

22.5

6:17:54

63.1

11:35:47

34.6

 

Nurse

1:09:24

4.9

0:49:00

8.2

1:58:24

5.9

 

Junior physician

0:53:11

3.8

2:05:13

20.9

2:58:24

8.9

 

Senior physician

2:24:32

10.3

1:25:51

14.3

3:50:23

11.5

 

Medical student

1:17:37

5.5

0:14:25

2.4

1:32:02

4.6

 

Specialist physician

0:05:59

0.4

0:23:39

3.9

0:29:38

1.5

 

Patient

0:06:38

0.5

0:21:53

3.7

0:28:31

1.4

 

Pharmacists

0:00:00

0.0

0:00:00

0.0

0:00:00

0.0

 

Next-of-kin

0:00:00

0.0

0:04:40

0.8

0:04:40

0.2

 

Nurse coordinator

0:01:38

0.1

0:04:49

0.8

0:06:27

0.3

 

Source inside hospital

0:03:25

0.2

0:44:44

7.5

0:48:09

2.4

 

Source outside hospitalc

0:02:35

0.2

0:21:28

3.6

0:24:03

1.2

 

Other

0:00:00

0.0

0:06:58

1.2

0:06:58

0.3

Read/retrieve written informationb

 

2:35:56

11.1

0:45:27

7.6

3:21:23

10.0

 

Summary Care Record

1:30:59

6.5

0:29:20

4.9

2:00:19

6.0

 

Prescription intermediary

0:39:43

2.8

0:11:41

1.9

0:51:24

2.6

 

Medication module in electronic health record

1:16:46

5.4

0:19:06

3.2

1:35:52

4.8

 

Medication chart

0:09:07

0.6

0:03:26

0.6

0:12:33

0.6

Documentationb

 

10:55:00

46.5

1:32:33

15.4

12:27:33

37.2

 

Medication chart

4:59:43

21.3

0:37:07

6.2

5:36:50

16.8

 

Medication module in electronic health record

3:48:34

16.2

0:11:47

2.0

4:00:21

12.0

 

Other

2:06:43

9.0

0:43:39

7.3

2:50:22

8.5

  1. aProportions are calculated using the observed medication-related time (hours:minutes:seconds) as denominator
  2. bThe three medication reconciliation tasks
  3. cSources outside hospital, e.g., pharmacies, nursing homes and home care nurses
  4. Bold font show the "what" categories and subcategories
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BMC Emergency Medicine

ISSN: 1471-227X

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