Developing a Technique to Measure Anesthesiologists' Real-Time Workload

Abstract

Workload is a construct used to describe the extent to which an operator has engaged the cognitive and physical resources required for task performance. As task difficulty increases, operators allocate more resources to maintain acceptable performance. The purpose of the present study is to develop a technique to measure workload continuously, with high-resolution in real-time, and in a way that accounts for the contribution of multiple individual task components of the job of administering anesthesia. Workload associated with 51 clinical tasks performed by anesthesiologists was assessed using a written survey instrument, developed for this study. Participants were 241 anesthesia providers. Interval scale values were computed for each of the tasks using direct estimatation procedures. These values were then used to produce workload density maps for actual anesthesia cases by weighting the tasks performed during the case by their workload scale values. Moment-by-moment data on the specific tasks performed by anesthesiologists were obtained in real-time by trained observers during actual anesthetic cases. This type of analysis can be used to evaluate the costs associated with technical anesthesia procedures, increase our understanding of the anesthesiologist's job, and guide rational optimization of procedures, equipment, scheduling, and training.

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