The Science Journal of the American Association for Respiratory Care
Background: Managing productivity is based on establishing time standards associated with the provision of treatment. UCSD has incorporated several alternative techniques to facilitate secretion clearance that include Flutter Valve, Intrapulmonary Percussion, and ThAIRapy Vest. Expert opinion was initially utilized to determine the duration of these procedures, as they were not included in the AARC Uniform Reporting Manual. To validate the actual time associated with the provision of these therapies, we utilized our point of care information system to capture and determine treatment duration for managing productivity.
Methods: The department information system was configured to include the procedures of Limited Chest PT, Comprehensive Chest PT, and the new alternative therapies. Treatments were then provided per department secretion clearance protocol in which the method of chest physiotherapy was determined. The duration of each treatment was captured by entry of start and stop times directly into the mobile workstation. Information was collected over a four-month period and data was analyzed to determine measures of central tendency.
Results: Duration times are reported in minutes for both mean and mode.
| Procedure Name | # of Treatments | Mean | Mode |
| Limited Chest PT | 2756 | 18.15 | 15 |
| Comprehensive Chest PT | 30 | 32.12 | 30 |
| Flutter Valve | 50 | 13.66 | 15 |
| Intrapulmonary Percussion | 181 | 18.79 | 15 |
| ThAIRapy Vest | 377 | 24.87 | 30 |
Discussion: There is significant variance in the time duration for the alternative methods of secretion clearance. Determination and refinement of time standards provides a means to assess staffing requirements based on the number and mix of these procedures. In addition, time standards will facilitate the determination of labor cost and the transition to less costly interventions when such therapy is effective in achieving the desired outcomes.
OF-99-087