The Purpose of Time-Motion Studies (TMSs) in Healthcare: A Literature Review

Abstract

By utilizing time study methodologies, one can ascertain how long it takes a skilled person to complete a task with a specific level of quality. Time study aids in the selection of different job execution options as well as in the determination of the workforce required for a certain task, and thus assist in increasing manpower efficiency. It also aids in the acquisition of plants and machinery. By elaborating on the definition of "timemotion studies" (TMSs) as it is used in the biomedical literature and presenting justification based on full knowledge of that definition, this work aims to contribute to the standardization of TMSs. In TMSs, which is a type of quantitative data gathering, an outside observer records the motions and time necessary to complete an activity, together with an analysis aimed at increasing productivity. This paper suggests that, according to the researchers, the term is used to designate a range of investigations, the gathering and/or analysis of the length of one or more occurrences. A detailed analysis of all the available literature is done in this paper to get knowledge about TMS and its use in healthcare. Also, a comprehensive overview of many methodologies applied in works that are classed or referred to as TMSs is provided in this paper. Time motion investigations were first introduced in industrial engineering at the beginning of the twentieth century. Since then, they have been extensively employed by biological researchers, and because there is currently interest in parts of clinical workflow, they have attracted attention. However, combining the findings from different studies has proven challenging because there is a lot of variation in how techniques are used and reported. Although efforts have been made to uniformly publish these data and outcomes, there is still confusion about what TMSs are. A shared understanding of time and motion (TAM) research, as well as a proper acknowledgment of the various approaches it comprises, is a critical step toward standardization and validation. In this review paper literature analysis is done to discover what is known as TMSs to achieve the mentioned purpose.

From plan to practice: A qualitative study of public mental health therapists’ session-planning practices.

“…It is possible that our questions about therapists’ training in EBPs may have led participants to have this mental model of session planning. Future research should examine therapists’ in vivo session-planning practices through the use of time-motion studies (Kalne & Mehendale, 2022) and explore how therapists have been trained to conceptualize and practice session planning.…”

Improved efficiency of daratumumab treatment of multiple myeloma adopting the subcutaneous route: A micro‐costing analysis in three Italian hematology centers

“…In particular, the time‐and‐motion design of the study allows a precise calculation of the time spent in each task. This type of study was born at the beginning of the last century as a merge of time study and motion study, where the first was meant to measure, by means of stopwatch observations, the time spent by people performing a range of occupations, while the second aimed at minimizing the number of moves required to finish a task, thus improving efficiency 31 . Initially applied to industrial engineering, it has subsequently been largely used by biological and clinical researchers due to its cost‐saving potential 31 .…”

“…This type of study was born at the beginning of the last century as a merge of time study and motion study, where the first was meant to measure, by means of stopwatch observations, the time spent by people performing a range of occupations, while the second aimed at minimizing the number of moves required to finish a task, thus improving efficiency 31 . Initially applied to industrial engineering, it has subsequently been largely used by biological and clinical researchers due to its cost‐saving potential 31 . Basically, a difficult task is divided in smaller steps, which are measured in terms of time spent and the results are then analyzed to identify and eliminate unnecessary motions 31 …”

The relationship between sensory impairment and home care client's received care time—A cross‐sectional study

“…Similar studies have used identical categorisations for the sensory items (e.g., Guthrie et al, 2022). The time and motion method is useful for measuring care time by activity (Kalne & Mehendale, 2022).…”