Introduction to Diary Card Studies

 

Introduction

This software is an analysis system designed for the collation of diary card studies. It will calculate hours of work and rest for on call rotas, partial shifts, and full shifts as well as hybrids. If difficulty is experienced over complex working patterns, advice may be sought from the Regional Action Teams. A booklet entitled "Junior Doctor's Hours - Monitoring Guidelines" is available.

 

Information Obtained

These studies should be undertaken for monitoring hours of work and rest, in order to assess compliance with New Deal Targets. Information will be gleaned on the length of the standard working week and the overnight intensity.

Diary studies alone will not assess compliance in full. Hours of duty and hours of actual work are dependent on the rota in operation and arrangements for leave eg prospective cover. Missing data, particularly if the day was an on call day, can cause serious distortions in the average weekly hours of duty and work.

However if the rota information is available in DRS, or if it can be provided then a full assessment may be made using this software.

Although problem rotas may be assessed, in order to find solutions more detailed information on the work undertaken will be needed. This may be recorded on the diary cards, but will not be analysed - discussion with doctors concerned and more senior clinicians will be necessary at this stage.

 

Data Collection and Input Methods

There are three ways the system provides for collecting data on doctor's hours: -

 

Diary Cards

Forms are given to the doctors to record their hours of work. The data from these forms is then typed into DRS and analysed. It is possible to use DRS to pre-print a set of forms with dates and doctor's name ready for the study. This reduces the form filling effort required of the doctors, and helps to increase the rate of return of forms. This method is the simplest and most flexible, but involves significant data entry by the person doing the study.

 

OMR Forms

The use of optical mark reader (OMR) forms for this purpose was pioneered by the Yorkshire Region (The Yorkshire Monitor). The data collected is not as detailed as with conventional diary cards, but data entry into DRS is simply a matter of feeding the cards through an OMR reader.

The cards are similar in size and style to National Lottery entry cards. The doctor is required to record work by putting marks in boxes. Each box corresponds to 15 minutes work. The cards are read by a Chatsworth Data Corporation OMR1100 reader that is interfaced to the PC running DRS.

 

Bar Code Scanners (TMS)

TMS is a company that produces systems based on small (pen sized) bar code scanners that are used in conjunction with a small book of bar codes. When the doctor starts a new activity (or rest period), the bar code for that activity is scanned with the pen. This records the start time of the activity. At the end of the analysis period the data collected by the scanner is loaded into a PC. The software provided by TMS enables this data to be output to a computer file that can be read into DRS in place of diary card input. The data collected is not as detailed as with conventional diary cards, but data entry into DRS is quicker and easier.

 

PDA (Pocket PC)

DRS has companion software (DRS PDA) that runs on a PDA and allows a doctor to collect information the work being done as it happens, with very little effort. The doctor can review the data collected on the PDA and perform simple analyses. This data can then be imported directly into DRS for full analysis.

 

XML File

Other companies that provide activity data collection devices may be able to export data in a XML file format that DRS can use. Consult DRS support for more information.

More:

Guidelines for the Successful use of Diary Cards