Interns spend More Time With Computers Than Patients: Study

The time medical interns spend interacting with patients continues to drop, taking up only 12% of their working hours, according to a study at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical Center.

In fact, the time they spend walking during a shift is only 5% lower than the time they spend caring for patients directly, and it's significantly less than the time spent behind a computer, which accounts for 40% of their hours.

The study, which followed 29 internal medicine interns for three weeks at Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, found that interns spend 12% of their time talking with and examining patients; 64% on indirect patient care—placing orders, researching patient history, filling out electronic paperwork; 15% on educational activities (e.g. medical rounds); and 9% on miscellaneous activities.