(This article first published on Advance for Nurses, where “millions of nursing, rehab and allied health professionals” turn to for “a trustworthy source of industry news and information”. That publication has been discontinued. We have replaced an excerpt with the full article below.)

The current hospital-patient care environment does not allow nurses to spend their time where they are needed most, at the patients’ bedside. A time and motion study of 767 medical-surgical nurses in 36 hospitals found that only 7.2% of their time (31 minutes during a typical 10 hour shift) is spent with the patient performing tasks, such as assessing the patient and reading vital signs. During a 10 hour shift, the study found that nurses’ time was spent in numerous activities, as shown in the chart below: Continue reading “3 Ways Technology Can Help Nurses Spend More Time at Patients’ Bedside” →