Dataset Information

Use of a Real-Time Location System to Understand Resident Location in an Academic Medical Center.

ABSTRACT:

Background

There is great interest in understanding how residents spend their time in the hospital, but traditional time and motion studies are resource intensive and limited in scale.

Objective

We determined whether a real-time location system (RTLS) that uses infrared emitting badges can be used to track resident time and location.

Methods

Residents rotating on an internal medicine service in January 2018 were given the option to wear an RTLS badge. RTLS data were compared to the call schedule for each participating resident in a deidentified manner. Rules were created to identify work periods to be manually reviewed for data integrity. Reviewed work periods where there were extended periods of time without RTLS badge movement (eg, greater than 300 minutes) were excluded from analysis.

Results

Data were collected from 18 residents and included 236 work periods (2922 hours). Based on prespecified rules, 146 work periods were included, representing 83% of total eligible residents (n = 15) and 82% of total hours recorded (2397 hours). Residents spent the highest percentage of their time in physician workrooms (44%, SD 15%), followed by ward hallways (25%, SD 7%) and patient rooms (17%, SD 7%). Several work periods were excluded because residents left their RTLS badge in physician workrooms after the work period ended.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the potential utility of RTLS to measure resident time and location in the hospital.

SUBMITTER: D'Souza T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6570446 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Use of a Real-Time Location System to Understand Resident Location in an Academic Medical Center.

D'Souza Travis T Rosen Michael M Bertram Amanda K AK Apfel Ariella A Desai Sanjay V SV Garibaldi Brian T BT

Journal of graduate medical education 20190601 3

<h4>Background</h4>There is great interest in understanding how residents spend their time in the hospital, but traditional time and motion studies are resource intensive and limited in scale.<h4>Objective</h4>We determined whether a real-time location system (RTLS) that uses infrared emitting badges can be used to track resident time and location.<h4>Methods</h4>Residents rotating on an internal medicine service in January 2018 were given the option to wear an RTLS badge. RTLS data were compare ...[more]

PMID: 31210865

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Project description:Introduction. The value of tablet computer use in medical education is an area of considerable interest, with preliminary investigations showing that the majority of medical trainees feel that tablet computers added value to the curriculum. This study investigated potential differences in tablet computer use between medical students and resident physicians. Materials & Methods. Data collection for this survey was accomplished with an anonymous online questionnaire shared with the medical students and residents at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU-SOM) in July and August of 2012. Results. There were 76 medical student responses (26% response rate) and 66 resident/fellow responses to this survey (21% response rate). Residents/fellows were more likely to use tablet computers several times daily than medical students (32% vs. 20%, p = 0.035). The most common reported uses were for accessing medical reference applications (46%), e-Books (45%), and board study (32%). Residents were more likely than students to use a tablet computer to access an electronic medical record (41% vs. 21%, p = 0.010), review radiology images (27% vs. 12%, p = 0.019), and enter patient care orders (26% vs. 3%, p < 0.001). Discussion. This study shows a high prevalence and frequency of tablet computer use among physicians in training at this academic medical center. Most residents and students use tablet computers to access medical references, e-Books, and to study for board exams. Residents were more likely to use tablet computers to complete clinical tasks. Conclusions. Tablet computer use among medical students and resident physicians was common in this survey. All learners used tablet computers for point of care references and board study. Resident physicians were more likely to use tablet computers to access the EMR, enter patient care orders, and review radiology studies. This difference is likely due to the differing educational and professional demands placed on resident physicians. Further study is needed better understand how tablet computers and other mobile devices may assist in medical education and patient care.

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Dataset Information

Use of a Real-Time Location System to Understand Resident Location in an Academic Medical Center.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Use of a Real-Time Location System to Understand Resident Location in an Academic Medical Center.

Similar Datasets

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