Background: Geographic cohorting localizes hospitalist teams to a single unit. It has previously been shown to improve outcomes.
Dr. Joseph Sweigart
Design: Prospective time and motion study.
Setting: 11 geographically cohorted services and 4 noncohorted teams at Indiana University Health, a large academic medical center.
Synopsis: Geotracking was used to monitor time spent inside and outside of patient rooms for 17 hospitalists over at least 6 weeks. Eight hospitalists were also directly observed. Both groups spent roughly three times more time outside patient rooms than inside. Geographic cohorting was associated with longer patient visits (ranging from 69.6 to 101.7 minutes per day depending on team structure) and a higher percentage of time in patient rooms. Interruptions were more common with geographic cohorting. These hospitalists were interrupted every 14 minutes in the morning and every 8 minutes in the afternoon. Of these interruptions, 62% were face-to-face, 25% were electronic, and 13% were both simultaneously.
An important limitation of this study is that the investigators did not evaluate clinical outcomes or provider satisfaction. This may give some pause to the widespread push toward geographic cohorting.
Bottom line: More frequent interruptions may partially offset potential increases in patient-hospitalist interactions achieved through geographic cohorting.
Citation: Kara A et al. A time motion study evaluating the impact of geographic cohorting of hospitalists. J Hosp Med. 2020;15:338-44.
Dr. Sweigart is a hospitalist at the Lexington (Ky.) VA Health Care System.
