Comparing time and motion methods to study personnel time in the context of a family planning supply chain intervention in Senegal

Background A family planning (FP) supply chain intervention was introduced in Senegal in 2012 to reduce contraceptive stock-outs. Labour is the highest cost in low- and middle-income country supply chains. In this paper, we (1) understand time use of personnel working in the FP supply chain at health facilities in Senegal, (2) estimate the validity of self-administered timesheets (STs) relative to continuous observations (COs), and (3) describe the cost of data collection for each method. Methods We collected time use data for seven stockroom managers in six facilities using both ST and CO. Activities were categorized as follows: stock management associated with FP, non-FP stock management, other productive activities, non-productive activities, and waiting time. Paired t tests were used to compare the mean differences between the two methods in all categories and in productive time alone. Results Among all activities, the absolute and relative time spent on productive activities was higher when estimated by ST compared to CO. Conversely, waiting time was underestimated by STs. There was no difference in the relative time spent on non-productive activities. When comparing the distribution of the three productive activity categories, we found no evidence of a difference in relative time percentage estimates between CO and ST (FP stockroom management − 3.0%, 95% CI − 7.4 to 1.4%; non-FP stockroom management 3.4%, 95% CI − 2.8 to 9.6%; and other productive activities − 0.1%, 95% CI − 6.3 to 6.0%). Data collection costs for CO are 140% more than ST. Conclusion STs were not a reliable method for measuring absolute labour time at health facilities in Senegal due to considerable underestimates of time waiting for clients. However, ST had acceptable reliability when examining distribution of productive time. Although CO provides more accurate absolute time estimates, the unit costs for data collection using this method are more than triple those for STs in Senegal.