@article{3047860,
    title = "Allocation of nursing time",
    author = "Lemonidou, C and Plati, C and Brokalaki, H and Mantas, J and Lanara, V",
    journal = "Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences",
    year = "1996",
    volume = "10",
    number = "3",
    pages = "131-136",
    publisher = "Universitetsforlaget (Scandinavian University Press)",
    issn = "0283-9318, 1471-6712",
    doi = "10.1111/j.1471-6712.1996.tb00325.x",
    keywords = "nurse activities; nursing time; time allocation; nursing care",
    abstract = "The purpose of the study was to examine the allocation of nursing time
to various activities of registered and assistant nurses during the day
shift. Twenty-three registered (RN) and eighteen assistant nurses (AN)
working in medical and surgical wards of five large hospitals were
studied. The findings have shown that the most frequent activities
performed were: indirect care representing 35.6% of the time, direct
care representing 23.8% of the time, personal activities representing
16.8% of the time, and direct nursing interventions representing 8.2%
of the time. Cross-tabulation revealed that RNs provided direct care
less frequently and indirect care more frequently than ANs (25.3
activities per RN and 27.5 per AN, 62.1 activities per RN and 32.6 per
AN, respectively). Many indirect care activities were found to be the
responsibility of the head nurse (64), secretary (465), and others
(104). Less expected results were the minimal amounts of time spent on
both education and research activities (1.3% and 0.0% respectively).
Nurse managers have to free nurses from subsidiary work and to find
mechanisms to distribute nursing valuable time more efficiently."
}