Time-motion study of auxiliary nurse midwives of a primary health center from Wardha District of Maharashtra

Introduction: In the rural health-care delivery system of India, auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) is the key frontline field-level functionary who interacts directly with the community. A heavy responsibility of implementation of health programs rests on the shoulders of ANMs. As ANMs are central to the delivery of services under the National Rural health Mission including supervision of the work done by the accredited social health activist, we thought it prudent to analyze their work pattern so that their efficiency could be improved upon. Objective: The objective was to study the workload and work pattern of ANMs and identify the causes for improving work efficiency of ANMs. Materials and Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study conducted among four purposively chosen ANMs from a primary health center (PHC) in Central India using time-motion study as the tool. An ANM's work pattern and workload were studied by constructing 24-h recall. One ANM was followed for a week, similarly the other ANM for another week so that the activities of entire month were covered. To ensure quality, work schedules reported by the ANMs each day were cross-checked with the concerned supervisor or medical officer PHC. Results: A free-listing and pile-sorting exercise was performed with the ANMs, and the 41 activities reported by them were clubbed in to five major categories. It was found that on meeting day, meeting and record keeping were the most performed tasks, whereas other tasks were hardly performed. On the day of home visits, ANMs performed the disease-related activity for most of their time, and record keeping or supporting tasks were the second most performed activities. Majority of ANM's time spent over the week was on supporting tasks which were not directly related to their job profile. Conclusion: We conclude that clarity about job responsibilities of ANMs is lacking and available working time is not effectively utilized. Time spent on supporting tasks such as travel and waiting is maximum. Training to manage time for priority tasks and to improve skills is required.