The Time, Places, and Activities of Nurses in a Psychiatric Inpatient Context - A Time and Motion Study with a Time-geographic Perspective

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic data, n = 4.

Demographics
Age – years: mean	36 (±7.1)
Male	1
Female	3
Years as a registered nurse – median (range)	1 year, 2 months (4 months-4.5 years)
Years at the current ward – median (range)	9.5 months (4 months-11 months)
Registered Nurse	3
Nurse specialist^a	1

^aA 1-year university training in psychiatric and mental health nursing with a 1-year Master’s degree.

Table 2. Activity categories and definitions.

Activity category	Definitions
Direct care	Activities during which the nurse was in direct contact with the patient, e.g., talking with the patient, drawing blood, planning the care with the patient present, etc.
Indirect care	Activities related to the patient but without the patient present, e.g., talking with family members, rounds, talking about the patient with other staff, planning the care with the patient not being present, etc.
Medication tasks	All activities related to medication, such as preparing, documenting, and administering medicine.
Documentation	All documentation except medication documentation, such as charting and taking notes.
Professional communication	Communication including shift handovers, handovers to other units, etc.
Social	Personal activities such as having meals or bathroom breaks, or socialising with other staff members.
Ward-related tasks	Activities that are not directly associated with the care of any one individual patient, e.g., staffing, cleaning, or resupplying.
Training/supervision	Supervising students or participating in training activities.
Telephony	Any phone calls except private.
In transit	Walking or running between places.
Other	Miscellaneous activities that do not relate to any of the above categories.

Table 3. Percentage of places and activities in the time-geography chart.

Hour	Place	Percentage^a	Activity	Percentage^a
7–8 am	Medicine room	38.6%	Medication tasks	85.9%
8–9 am	Patient room	41.1%	Direct care	69.8%
9–10 am	Rounds room	50%	Indirect care	99.5%
10–11 am	Medicine room	30.4%	Documentation	56.2%
11–12 am	Conversation room	35.9%	Direct care	100%
12–1 pm	Staff room	33%	Social	82.1%
1–2 pm	Staff room	41.4%	Professional comm.	60.6%
2–3 pm	Medicine room	50%	Indirect care	31.5%
3–4 pm	Nurses’ station	43.1%	Indirect care	34.9%
4–5 pm	Medicine room	39.9%	Medication tasks	40.3%
5–6 pm	Nurses’ station	28%	Transit	65%
6–7 pm	Hallway	23.9%	Direct care	63.6%
7–8 pm	Nurses’ station	25.8%	Social	45.4%
8–9 pm	Staff room	27.5%	Professional comm.	99.6%

^aRounded to one decimal place.

Figure 1. The X-axis represents the places nurses most commonly occupied during the observed hours. The Y-axis represents the hours of the working day. The dots at each hour represents the most common activity during that time and one hour on. The green vertical line indicates the day shift, while the purple vertical line indicates the evening shift.

Table 4. Overview of activity-time distribution.

Activity category	Total time measured	Percentage of total^a
Indirect care	6 h 53 m	22.5%
Medication tasks	5 h 34 m	18.2%
Direct care	5 h 15 m	17.1%
Social	3 h 16 m	10.7%
Professional communication	2 h 56 m	9.6%
In transit	2 h 41 m	8.8%
Documentation	2 h 25 m	7.9%
Ward-related tasks	53 m	2.9%
Telephony	43 m	2.3%
Training/supervision	–	0%
Other	–	0%

^aRounded to one decimal place.

Table 5. Overview of places and activity distributions.

Place	Percentage of observed time^a	Activity category	Percentage of activity time in each place^a
Medicine room	28.6%	Medication tasks	40.6%
		Indirect care	28.3%
		Documentation	21.2%
Nurses’ station	18.8%	Indirect care	32%
		Transit	16.1%
		Professional comm	13.3%
Staff room	14.7%	Social	57.2%
		Professional comm	34.3%
		Indirect care	7.3%
Patients’ rooms	11.1%	Direct care	75.7%
		Medication tasks	22.7%
		Transit	1.5%
Hallway	9.3%	Transit	46.8%
		Direct care	36.1%
		Medication tasks	4%
Rounds room	8.1%	Indirect care	73.7%
		Professional comm	25.1%
		Transit	1%
Common area	3.7%	Medication tasks	55.5%
		Direct care	39%
		Transit	3.7%
Conversation room	3.2%	Direct care	99.9%

^aRounded to one decimal place.

Data availability statement

Data is available upon reasonable request. This research adhered to the STROBE reporting checklist (von Elm et al., 2008).