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Physicians are increasingly interested in part-time employment. However, the impact of part-time work on efficiency and quality of care of inpatients is unknown.
To investigate the association between part-time clinical work of hospitalists in General Internal Medicine (GIM) and resource utilisation and short-term patient outcomes.
Retrospective study.
GIM wards of 3 Swiss teaching hospitals.
Each inpatient was categorised as having received care mainly (>50%) by part-time or full-time hospitalists. Part-time clinical work was defined as employment of
Primary outcome was length of hospital stay, secondary outcomes included 30-day readmission, in-hospital mortality, hospitalisation cost and time to completion of the discharge letter. We assessed the association between both groups and outcomes using generalised estimating equations, clustering for individual patients and adjusting for patient and hospitalist characteristics.
There was no statistically relevant difference in length of stay in cases cared for mainly by part-time (mean 7.3 days, 95% CI 7.1 to 7.6) compared with full-time hospitalists (mean 7.6 days, 95% CI 7.3 to 7.8; p=0.18). Time to completion of the discharge letter was longer in the part-time (mean 11.4 days, 95% CI 11.0 to 11.8) versus full-time group (mean 10.9 days, 95% CI 10.6 to 11.2, p=0.049). There was no statistically significant difference between groups for the other outcomes.
We found no evidence that part-time clinical work of hospitalists negatively affects resource utilisation and short-term patient outcomes compared with full-time work.
To determine whether postponing daily medical rounds to provide additional preparation time for residents reduces round duration and alters time allocation during rounds, with the hypothesis that increased preparation leads to more efficient rounds without reducing patient contact.
Time and motion study with a before-and-after comparison.
Internal medicine division of Lausanne University Hospital, a Swiss tertiary teaching hospital.
75 residents; 60% women; mean age of 29.6 years and 3.0 years of training.
In 2017, the daily work schedule was reorganised by postponing rounds from 09:00 to 10:00 and moving educational sessions to the afternoon, thereby freeing 90 min to prepare patient cases before rounds.
The primary outcome was the duration of rounds and the proportion thereof spent with patients, using computer systems or in discussion with colleagues. Secondary outcomes included the detailed distribution of resident activities during the officially scheduled round period, particularly time dedicated to supervision, teaching and administrative tasks.
Round duration decreased from 142 min per shift (95% CI 128 to 156) in 2015 to 112 min (95% CI 101 to 124) in 2018 (p=0.001). The proportion of round time spent directly with patients remained stable at 47%. Computer use during rounds decreased from 43% to 32% (p
Postponing rounds to allow more preparation time was associated with shorter, possibly more efficient rounds, reduced computer use in patient presence and increased supervision and teaching.
ISRCTN69703381,
FreshRSS 