Time and motion study of anesthesiologists' workflow in German hospitals

Abstract

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.