Time Savings with Once-Monthly C.E.R.A.: A Time and Motion Study Conducted in 13 Haemodialysis Centres in Italy

BACKGROUND: We sought to document the time required by health care professionals to administer erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) and continuous erythropoiesis receptor activator (C.E.R.A.) in the management of renal anaemia. METHODS: A Time and Motion study was conducted in 13 centres in Italy. The time spent on preparation, distribution, and injection for both ESA and C.E.R.A. groups was measured. A multilevel model was run to account for the centre-clustering effect. RESULTS: The average number of ESA injections/patient/year was 89. The average uptake of C.E.R.A. was 26%. The average time per session was 1.54 min for ESA (95% CI 1.21-1.86) vs. 1.64 min for C.E.R.A. (95% CI 1.31-1.97). Estimated time/patient/year was 137 min for ESA and 20 min for C.E.R.A. Assuming a 100% uptake of C.E.R.A., annual time savings/centre would be 84% (194 h). CONCLUSIONS: Substantial annual time savings on frequent anaemia management-related tasks were found when a switchover was made from ESAs to C.E.R.A.