Skip to main content

Table 4 Number, average task length and overall percentage of tasks completed using specific information tools

From: How much time do nurses have for patients? a longitudinal study quantifying hospital nurses' patterns of task time distribution and interactions with health professionals

Information tools used to complete task

Period

Number of tasks

Mean task length

(seconds)

Percentage of observation time

95% Confidence intervals

Rate per 100 tasks

Permanent Record

Year 1

2292

50.05

29.02

26.86

31.17

30.4

Permanent Record

Year 3

2027

50.80

35.11

32.82

37.40

32.3

Paper

Year 1

302

125.36*

9.58

7.02

12.14

4.0

Paper

Year 3

282

79.23*

7.62

5.75

9.49

4.5

Desk PC

Year 1

43

98.47

1.07

0.74

1.40

0.6

Desk PC

Year 3

77

72.05

1.89

1.45

2.34

1.2

Phone

Year 1

135

62.72

2.14

1.79

2.50

1.8

Phone

Year 3

152

51.63

2.68

2.22

3.13

2.4

Nothing

Year 1

4869

58.41*

71.94

66.34

77.54

64.5

Nothing

Year 3

3912

51.76*

69.04

63.32

74.77

62.3

  1. *Indicates significant change in year 1 and year 3 average task times (P < 0.01)