Allocation du temps en médecine interne [Allocation of time in internal medicine]

The hospital internal medicine practice is changing : increasing complexity of patients; implementation of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR); growing volume of medical data and administrative tasks, and limitation of working hours. We quantified the daily tasks of our internal medicine residents. They didn't manage to fulfill their duties in the scheduled time and had to stay after hours ; further, activities indirectly related to patients predominated. Residents spent a daily average of 1.7 hours with patients, 5.2 hours with the computer, and 13 minutes with both. Computer use predominated before 8 am or after 6 pm, while time dedicated to the patient was concentrated in morning during the medical round. Improvements are needed to increase residents' efficiency, and to make them focus on high medical value activities