2017 Volume 18 Issue 2 Pages 61-66
By using infrared transmitters (beacons) and infrared sensors (sensors), nursing staff's workload can be measured, but few studies demonstrated its effectiveness. This study aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness and possible application of time-study using beacons and sensors in clinical practice. Items used for patient's severity and needs for nursing care (nursing demands) were evaluated as for their validity and simplification of items was examined.
In a surgical ward of an acute-care hospital, bed-side sojourn time of healthcare workers was measured automatically by beacons and sensors from December 14 to 27 in 2015. The relationship between the bed-side sojourn time and the items of nursing demands was analyzed after adjusting for confounders by multivariate analysis.
A total of 687 in-patient's data was obtained. Healthcare worker's average bed-side sojourn time per one patient in a day was 44 minutes. As for nursing demands, there were some items and its options which showed no significant difference for bed-side sojourn time of nurses and nursing aids. According to multivariate analysis, 6 items；wound treatment, respiratory care, management of syringe pump, roll over, feeding and clothing change, were related to the bed-side sojourn time.
This study demonstrated that the time-study using beacons and sensors can be used effectively in clinical practice.
