Most of the hospitalist's day dedicated to documentation
Hospitalist Leadership Connection, August 31, 2010
Hospitalists spend more time documenting and reviewing electronic medical records than directly with the patient, according to a new study, “Where did the day go? A time-motion study of hospitalists,” published in the July/August Journal of Hospital Medicine.
Northwestern University researchers shadowed 24 hospitalists for two complete shifts and recorded their activities.
Researchers found that hospitalists only spend 17% of their time on direct patient care and 64% on indirect patient care, including electronic medical records and communication. Sixteen percent of the time, hospitalists work on more than one activity. They spent about 6% of their time to each of the following: professional development, personal time, and traveling.
Although patient volume did affect the time hospitalists spent on documentation and communication with others, patient load didn’t affect how much time hospitalists spent with each patient. However, hospitalists who had more patients reported putting off documentation until the end of the day or the next day and also spent less time communicating to other care providers.
Related Products
-
Medical Staff Briefing
This monthly resource acts as a support system by providing time-saving tools, expert advice, and analyses to help you...
-
Medical Staff Leader Connection
Subscribe to our weekly e-mail newsletter for medical staff leaders that provides them encouragement, tips, tools, and...
-
Tools and Strategies for an Effective Hospitalist Program
A complete soup-to-nuts guide, this book and CD-ROM set provides proven forms, schedules, and tools you need to effectively...
-
The Hospitalist Program Management Guide, Second Edition
Challenged to build and manage a hospitalist program? Overcome the challenge with the latest hospitalist program management...
-
The Surgical Hospitalist Program Management Guide:
The Surgical Hospitalist Program Management Guide: Tools and Strategies for Executives and Physicians is a first-of-its-kind...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Q&A tackles coding questions about injections and infusions
- Joint Commission Center announces handoff communication solutions
- Inside best practice: Reduce patient falls with a stoplight
- Identify modifiable risk factors to prevent patient falls
- Hospitalist-surgeon comanagement has no effect on outcomes
- Case Management Monthly, June 2012
- Searched