Table 2

Proportion of time and average time per work task category

Work task categoriesPercentage of total observed time*No of task events
N=12645 min (95% CI)N=9588
Direct care28.6 (26.4 to 30.8)1192
Indirect care25.7 (24.4 to 26.9)2248
Professional communication24.2 (22.9 to 25.4)3204
Documentation13.3 (12.2 to 14.4)929
Social activities5.7 (4.8 to 6.6)537
Combined medication tasks5.0 (4.4 to 5.6)500
In transit3.2 (2.7 to 3.6)589
Discharge summary documentation2.7 (2.1 to 3.3)116
Administrative tasks2.3 (1.5 to 3.0)118
Supervision/education1.7 (1.9 to 2.4)61
Searching for x-ray/scan0.3 (0.2-0.4)41
Answering pager0.1 (0.1 to 0.2)21
Searching for medical record0.1 (0.1 to 0.2)32
  • * Percentages do not add to 100, as some tasks were undertaken at the same time (multitasking).