Table 1.
Definitions of task time points in the preintervention and intervention groups
| Task | Times | Control (paper chart) | Intervention (SEND e-Obs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| View Chart | Start (i) | Nurse arrives at notes source (eg, the nursing station) | No equivalent (notes stored in database) |
| Finish (i) | Nurse finished collecting all sets of notes required for the observation and has all sets in hand | No equivalent (notes stored in database) | |
| Start (ii) | Nurse is at patient’s bedside and touches notes to open them | Nurse scans patient’s wristband identifier to access SEND record | |
| Finish (ii) | Vital signs chart is open at the bedside | Vital signs chart is visible to nurse | |
| Take Vital Signs | Start | First piece of vital sign monitoring equipment is attached to patient | |
| Finish | Nurse completes final piece of documentation on paper vital signs chart | Nurse presses “Save Obs” to submit a set of vital signs in SEND | |
The View Chart task consists of 2 mutually exclusive time periods. These relate to (i) locating the nursing notes within a ward and (ii) locating the observation chart within the nursing notes.