Background: Acute care nurse practitioners (ACNPs) provide advanced nursing care to patients and families who are experiencing a complex acute, critical or chronic health condition. A clear understanding of ACNP activities may facilitate the deployment of ACNP roles in health care teams. Time and motion studies represent the gold standard to measure clinician work time.
Methods: A time and motion tool to measure cardiology ACNP activities was developed and pilot-tested in two organizations.
Findings: The researcher produced a valid and reliable tool. The inter-observer agreement was 0.94 following the pilot study. A training guide and a training schedule were produced to support the use of the time and motion tool. Each activity was defined to facilitate the coding of ACNP activities.
Conclusion: A validated tool can contribute to our knowledge of ACNP activities and role components, and identify the ACNPs' contributions to patient care and the functioning of the health care team.