Using the time and motion method to study clinical work processes and workflow: methodological inconsistencies and a call for standardized research.

Publisher: Oxford University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9430800 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1527-974X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10675027 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Am Med Inform Assoc Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2015- : Oxford : Oxford University Press
Original Publication: Philadelphia, PA : Hanley & Belfus, c1993-

Checklist* ; Medical Informatics* ; Time and Motion Studies* ; Workflow*; Data Collection/*standards; Data Collection/methods ; Health Plan Implementation/statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Reference Standards

Objective: To identify ways for improving the consistency of design, conduct, and results reporting of time and motion (T&M) research in health informatics.
Materials and Methods: We analyzed the commonalities and divergences of empirical studies published 1990-2010 that have applied the T&M approach to examine the impact of health IT implementation on clinical work processes and workflow. The analysis led to the development of a suggested 'checklist' intended to help future T&M research produce compatible and comparable results. We call this checklist STAMP (Suggested Time And Motion Procedures).
Results: STAMP outlines a minimum set of 29 data/ information elements organized into eight key areas, plus three supplemental elements contained in an 'Ancillary Data' area, that researchers may consider collecting and reporting in their future T&M endeavors.
Discussion: T&M is generally regarded as the most reliable approach for assessing the impact of health IT implementation on clinical work. However, there exist considerable inconsistencies in how previous T&M studies were conducted and/or how their results were reported, many of which do not seem necessary yet can have a significant impact on quality of research and generalisability of results. Therefore, we deem it is time to call for standards that can help improve the consistency of T&M research in health informatics. This study represents an initial attempt.
Conclusion: We developed a suggested checklist to improve the methodological and results reporting consistency of T&M research, so that meaningful insights can be derived from across-study synthesis and health informatics, as a field, will be able to accumulate knowledge from these studies.

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UL1 RR024986 United States RR NCRR NIH HHS; UL1RR024986 United States RR NCRR NIH HHS

Date Created: 20110430 Date Completed: 20120120 Latest Revision: 20211020

20240829

PMC3168304

10.1136/amiajnl-2011-000083

21527407