The work pattern of personal care workers in two Australian nursing homes: a time-motion study

Qian, Siyu; Yu, Ping; Zhang, Zhenyu; Hailey, David; Davy, Pamela J.; Nelson, Mark

doi:10.1186/1472-6963-12-305

Cited by 40 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Previous studies 6,15,18 only presented the total direct care time, which was consistent with the first point presented above, but did not address the other points. The present study has advanced knowledge by providing more detailed information about each direct care activity.…”

Section: Common Findings At Both Racfssupporting

confidence: 73%

“…They reported that 30%-45% of a PC's time was spent on direct care in RACFs. 6,15,18 However, none of these studies reported how much time was allocated to each direct care activity in high-care RACFs. This limits the understanding about the time needed for meeting different care needs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The final version contained 58 activities that were grouped into direct care, indirect care, infection control, oral communication, documentation, transit, staff break and other activities not included in the previous categories. 15 Only direct care activities are presented in this paper. These were further classified into eight subcategories, which were intended to provide adequate granularity, yet remaining abstract enough for conceptualisation and presentation (see Table1).…”

Section: Classification Of Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12 Direct care activities are those directly involved with residents. [13][14][15] Previous studies have focused on the time spent on caring for dementia residents. 16,17 Several studies provided broad understanding of how PCs spend their time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Time spent on daytime direct care activities by personal carers in two Australian residential aged care facilities: a time–motion study

Qian¹,

Yu²,

Hailey³

et al. 2014

Aust. Health Review

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Objective. To examine the time, frequency and duration of each direct care activity conducted by personal carers in Australian residential aged care homes. Methods. A time-motion study was conducted to observe 46 personal carers at two high-care houses in two facilities (14 days at Site 1 and 16 days at Site 2). Twenty-three direct care activities were classified into eight categories for analysis. Results. Overall, a personal carer spent approximately 45% of their time on direct care, corresponding to 3.5 h in an 8-h daytime shift. The two sites had similar ratios of personal carers to residents, and each resident received 30 min of direct care. No significant differences between the two sites were found in the time spent on oral communication, personal hygiene and continence activities. Personal carers at Site 1 spent significantly less time on toileting and mobility activities than those at Site 2, but more time on lunch activity. Although oral communication took the longest time (2 h), it occurred concurrently with other activities (e.g. dressing) for 1.5 h. Conclusions. The findings provide information that may assist decision makers in managing the operation of highcare residential aged care facilities, such as planning for task allocation and staffing. AbstractObjective. To examine the time, frequency and duration of each direct care activity conducted by personal carers in Australian residential aged care homes.Methods. A time-motion study was conducted to observe 46 personal carers at two highcare houses in two facilities (14 days at Site 1 and 16 days at Site 2). Twenty-three direct care activities were classified into eight categories for analysis.Results. Overall, a personal carer spent approximately 45% of their time on direct care, corresponding to 3.5 h in an 8-h daytime shift. The two sites had similar ratios of personal carers to residents, and each resident received 30 min of direct care. No significant differences between the two sites were found in the time spent on oral communication, personal hygiene and continence activities. Personal carers at Site 1 spent significantly less time on toileting and mobility activities than those at Site 2, but more time on lunch activity. Although oral communication took the longest time (2 h), it occurred concurrently with other activities (e.g. dressing) for 1.5 h.Conclusions. The findings provide information that may assist decision makers in managing the operation of high-care residential aged care facilities, such as planning for task allocation and staffing.

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Section: Common Findings At Both Racfssupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Classification Of Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Time spent on daytime direct care activities by personal carers in two Australian residential aged care facilities: a time–motion study

Qian¹,

Yu²,

Hailey³

et al. 2014

Aust. Health Review

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“…Time-motion observation has been used by previous studies to evaluate the care processes in RACHs [11,12]. It requires an observer to follow one participant at a time and sequentially record the time taken for the person to conduct an activity, using a pre-defined activity classification system.…”

Section: Data Collection Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of electronic medication administration records in a residential aged care home

Qian¹,

Yu²,

Hailey³

2015

International Journal of Medical Informatics

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This study aimed to compare between electronic medication administration records and paper-based records in the nursing time spent on various activities in a medication round and the medicationadministration processes followed by nurses in an Australian residential aged care home. It also aimedto identify the benefits and unintended adverse consequences of using the electronic medication admin-istration records.Methods: Time-motion observation, taking of field notes, informal conversation and document reviewwere used to collect data in two units of a residential aged care home. Each unit had one nurse admin-ister medication. Seven nurses were observed over 12 morning shifts. Unit 1 used electronic medicationadministration records and Unit 2 used paper-based records.Results: No significant difference between the two units was found in the nursing time spent on variousactivities in a medication round, including documentation, verbal communication, medication adminis-tration, infection control and transit.Comparison of the medication administration processes between the electronic and paper-basedmedication administration records identified a procedural problem which violated the organization'sdocumentation requirement. This problem was documenting before providing medication to a residentwhen using the paper-based records. It was not observed with the electronic medication administrationrecords.Benefits of introducing the electronic medication administration records included improving nurses'compliance with documentation requirements, freedom from the error of signing twice, reducing thepossibility of forgetting to medicate a resident, facilitating nurses to record the time of medicationadministration to a resident and increasing documentation space. Unintended adverse consequencesof introducing the electronic medication administration records included inadequate information aboutresidents, late addition of a new resident's medication profile in the records and nurses' forgetting tomedicate a resident due to power outage of the portable device.Conclusions: The electronic medication administration records may not change nursing time spent onvarious activities in a medication round or substantially alter the medication administration processes,but can generate both benefits and unintended adverse consequences. Future research may investigatewhether and how the adverse consequences can be prevented.

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Parahoo¹

2014

Nursing Research

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The work pattern of personal care workers in two Australian nursing homes: a time-motion study

Cited by 40 publications

References 19 publications

Time spent on daytime direct care activities by personal carers in two Australian residential aged care facilities: a time–motion study

Time spent on daytime direct care activities by personal carers in two Australian residential aged care facilities: a time–motion study

The impact of electronic medication administration records in a residential aged care home

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