Health policy
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Comparative Study
Do new workforce roles reduce waiting times in ED? A difference-in-difference evaluation using hospital administrative data.
This paper evaluates the effect of introducing two new workforce roles under a pilot program conducted in Victoria, Australia. The trial took place at a regional hospital's emergency department (ED) between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2009. The evaluation is based on three outcome measures: waiting time (in minutes) at ED before treatment; proportion of presentations with waiting time on target; and length of stay (in days), for ED presentations that led to in-patient admissions. ⋯ These effects were found to be the strongest for less urgent triage categories. However, the evidence on in-patient length of stay was mixed. The results provide positive evidence that new workforce roles can be effective in improving the efficiency of emergency care delivery.