A modern approach to timeandmotion study of microbiological laboratory workplaces

Abstract

Objective. To analyze the structure and magnitude of the labor costs of various categories of personnel of the microbiological laboratory in their workplaces in order to standardize labor and calculate the labor intensity of the studies performed. Materials and Methods. The assessment of the labor costs of the personnel of the microbiological laboratory was carried out by time-and-motion study in the workplaces of a microbiologist (bacteriologist), a medical laboratory technician (MLT), a microbiological media preparation technician. The author’s «The method for researching the labor costs of staff of medical laboratory» was applied. Results. The lists and duration of standard manipulations of the labor process of the analyzed workplaces are determined, their classification by labor components was performed, on the basis of which the values of fixed and variable labor costs of the personnel and the labor intensity of microbiological studies were calculated. Workload modeling was performed for all categories of personnel depending on the change in the number of bacteriological tests performed. It is shown that at the moment the total annual labor costs of a microbiologist make up 34% of the full-time budget, a MLT – 61%, and a media preparation technician – 31%. The workload ratio at the workplaces «microbiologist / MLT / media preparation technician» with the existing number of tests corresponds to 1.0/1.7⁄0.9. The full workload on the one rate, according to currently existing regulatory documents, can be achieved with a microbiologist – with a volume of 16.3 K, with a MLT – 10.5 K, and with a media preparation technician – 36.4 K tests in year. Conclusions. Systematized data on the structure and magnitude of labor costs of the microbiological laboratory personnel workplaces were obtained. The high labor intensity of bacteriological tests and its variability depending on their types and volumes are demonstrated. The proposed approach allows not only to analyze the actual labor costs of different categories of microbiological laboratory personnel, but also makes it possible to effectively model the workload, take into account the actual overload of a laboratory specialist, and predict the need for staff units depending on the volume and quantitative ratio of the range of tests performed.