A Time motion Study Evaluating the Impact of Information Technology on Emergency Department consultants Activities

Studies on health information systems are often focused on assessing the usefulness of such systems, however they lack detailed insights on how such systems affect multitasking and the amount of time spent on patient care activities as this impacts the quality of care. This is a time motion study based on a single case study methodology where consultants in an emergency department will be observed and interviewed with the aim of evaluating the impact of information system use in an emergency department in a metropolitan hospital in Australia. The study is a 3 stage study which is building on data from two previous studies that were conducted in the same setting in 2008 and in 2012. Data analysis from the two previous studies have revealed that more time is spent on communication and clinical care activities, also the analysis showed that the role of the physician as well as the gender influences how time is spent on the different tasks. The evaluations will be based on predefined task categories to investigate how time is spent on IT supported tasks vs non-IT supported tasks, this is key to the implementation of systems that meet user expectations and are fit for purpose.

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