Abstract
Objective
Tools to measure physical activity, such as pedometers, have become more prevalent
and attracted popular interest in recent years. Despite this trend, research has not
yet quantified pedometer-measured physical activity among Emergency Physicians. This
study aims to provide the first characterization of physical activity among on-duty
Emergency Physicians in terms of step count.
Methods
Emergency Physicians wore Empatica E4 research-grade accelerometers while performing
routine clinical care in the Emergency Department. A publicly available algorithm
was used to estimate the number of steps taken.
Results
Fifty-one Emergency Physicians, including thirty-four residents and seventeen attending
physicians, contributed over 1500 h of accelerometer data. On average, this cohort
took 577 steps per hour (SD: 72.6), totaling 4950 steps per recorded shift (SD: 737.8),
which is approximately 2.6 miles (SD: 0.31). Residents walked more than attending
physicians (595.9 steps per hour (SD: 99.7) vs 563.0 steps per hour (SD: 89.0), respectively;
p = 0.02).
Conclusion
The average emergency physician in this cohort walked roughly half the daily recommended
number of steps during their recorded shift. Residents walk significantly more than
attending physicians.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: July 17, 2019
Accepted:
July 14,
2019
Received in revised form:
July 8,
2019
Received:
June 4,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
