Time Study RN | PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT TOOL
Run Charts – Monitoring and Sustaining Improvement
The Run Chart feature in Time Study RN provides a method to track performance over time, as units implement change throughout their TCAB/CIT journey. A disciplined and rigorous approach to data collection results in stable and consistent measurements as illustrated in the Direct Care graph below from a unit implementing TCAB/CIT.
% Time Spent in Direct Care
Monitoring the impact of change on nurse workload is critical in helping Nursing Executives understand the impact of new technology and nursing policy and practice on nurse workload. The following graph is an example of a hospital that implemented a new meds storage and distribution model on their unit. The result is that nurses spend almost twice as much time preparing and giving meds on the unit. This is a classic case of how new technology and new processes can impact nurse workload negatively. The benefit of measuring workload is that an informed management team can ensure that the staff is allocated to compensate for the additional time requirements.
% Time Spent Preparing/Giving Meds
The best performing hospital in the National Benchmarking Database regularly achieves 80% RN time spent in direct patient care. Every unit in the hospital does data collection every month so that they can monitor nurse workload continuously and ensure that their staffing reflects the reality of nurse work in the unit.