A quantitative assessment of the parameters of the role of receptionists in modern primary care using the work design framework

Abstract

Background: Amidst increased pressures on General Practice across England, the receptionist continues to fulfil key administrative and clinically related tasks. The need for more robust support for these key personnel to ensure they stay focussed and motivated is apparent, however, to be effective a more systematic understanding of the parameters of their work is required. Here we present a valuable insight into the tasks they fulfil, their relationship with colleagues and their organisation and their attitudes and behaviour at work collectively defined as their 'work design'. Methods: Our aim was to quantitatively assess the various characteristics of receptionists in primary care in England using the validated Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ) a 21 point validated questionnaire, divided into four categories: task, knowledge and social characteristics and work context with a series of sub-categories within each, disseminated online and as a postal questionnaire to 100 practices nationally. Results: Seventy participants completed the WDQ, 54 online and 16 using the postal questionnaire with the response rate for the latter being 3.1%. The WDQ suggested receptionists experience high levels of task variety, task significance and of information processing and knowledge demands, confirming the high cognitive load placed on receptionists by performing numerous yet significant tasks. Perhaps in relation to these substantial responsibilities a reliance on colleagues for support and feedback to help negotiate this workload was reported. Conclusion: The evidence of our survey suggests that the role of modern GP receptionists requires an array of skills to accommodate various administrative, communicative, problem solving, and decision-making duties. There are ways in which the role might be better supported for example devising ways to separate complex tasks to avoid the errors involved with high cognitive load, providing informal feedback, and perhaps most importantly developing training programmes.

Workload effects of online consultation implementation from a Job-Characteristics Model perspective: a qualitative study

“…These findings reflect prior studies that OC implementation can lead to perceived workload increase, particularly for administration staff, questioning of longer-term sustainability (25) (6) (3). However, the current study adds to knowledge by identifying qualitative differences in work.…”

“…The JCM has been used to examine primary care administrative roles, identifying a trade-off between increased cognitive load in task variety, versus role clarity (25); and to enhance patient safety culture (26) (8). Analysing the meaning of using OC in work may provide insight into how to redesign work.…”

“…Considering both factors in re-design of work, might improve experiences (thus wellbeing and performance). Burrows et al highlights that job-design may be underconsidered in primary care but may offer many benefits (25).…”

How to Establish a Sustainable Organization? A Study on the Relationship between Social Work Characteristics and Innovativeness for Employees of Organizations

“…For work task, it includes the knowledge, skills, or capabilities that are necessary for individuals to complete their tasks. Morgeson and Humphrey [13] summarized five key assessment indicators of work task from the literature, namely, autonomy, task variety, task significance, task identity, and feedback from job [33], which can be used to measure the levels of work to simulate employees' work interests and motivation [16,34], and has been applied in several types of organizations over the years [35]. Social characteristics refer to the assessment of the connection level of an individuals' work with others or an interpersonal connection.…”

“…Most previous studies have discussed the relationship between organizational innovation and company performance, but few scholars have studied the importance of employees' innovativeness for organizational sustainability. Furthermore, in understanding work design and supporting its improvement, the validated work design questionnaire [13] has proven to be a valuable tool producing benefits in a range of industries, including information technology [30], nursing [31], and policing [32] ( [16], p. 2).…”