Fact · Dictation for work and study
19 to 35percent of nursing practice time
Time-motion studies cited by Collins and colleagues report that nurses spend between 19 and 35 percent of nursing practice time documenting care.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“reporting that nurses spend between 19% to 35% of nursing practice time documenting care”
Quantifying and Visualizing Nursing Flowsheet Documentation Burden in Acute and Critical Care, Sarah A. Collins et al., AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings, 2018, Introduction.
Open the original- What it measures
- The authors cite earlier time-motion studies of nurses, which they list as references 5 to 7 in the paper. The range is their summary of those studies, not a new measurement.
- What it does not show
- A range across several earlier studies, with different units and settings. It is not a national benchmark and it does not say how much of the documentation was in flowsheets.