Seasonal Analysis for Productivity and Charts Closed by End of Day Before (March-April 2016) and After (March-April 2017) Implementing Scribes in Primary Care*
| Pre-scribe n = 980 hours Mean (SD) | Post-scribe n = 718 hours Mean (SD) | P value, t test | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relative value units/h | 2.71 (1.21) | 2.86 (1.22) | .02 |
| Patients/h | 1.86 (0.50) | 1.98 (0.78) | <.001 |
| Proportion of charts closed by end of day (11:59 pm) | 0.67 (0.42) | 0.71 (0.40) | .35 |
↵* To examine the possibility that seasonal variation contributed to our findings, we compared March-April 2016 with March-April 2017. Because productivity can vary by season, we wanted to confirm that changes persisted even when comparing the same season in the year before. If changes did not persist in this analysis, we would be concerned that seasonal variation in productivity between August-September and March-April accounted for changes in productivity.