Articles: emergency-medicine.
-
Emergency medicine has progressed significantly since its initial recognition as a medical specialty. Relatively little factual information is known, however, regarding who or how many physicians practice emergency medicine. The purpose of this study is to determine the total number of physicians practicing clinical emergency medicine during a specified period, to describe certain characteristics of those individuals, and to estimate the total number of full-time equivalents (FTEs), as well as the total number of individuals needed to staff those FTEs. ⋯ Given that there are 4,945 hospitals with EDs and given that the data indicate there are 4.96 FTEs per ED, the total number of FTEs is projected to be 24,548 (standard error = 437). Given further that the data indicate a physician/FTE ratio of 1.51:1, we conclude that there are 36,990 persons (standard error = 683) needed to staff those FTEs. When adjusted for persons working at more than one ED, that number is reduced to 32,026.
-
Ann Acad Med Singap · May 1998
Impact on quality of patient care and procedure use in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) following reorganisation.
We conducted this retrospective, cohort study to evaluate the quality of patient care and procedure use in the medical care unit (MICU) following reorganisation and staffing by an intensivist. Consecutive admissions to an adult MICU in a university affiliated hospital during two 3-month periods, August to October 1993 (Period 1, n = 112) and January to March 1994 (Period 2, n = 127) were analysed. In Period 1, the MICU was run under the open system in which patient care was provided by the individual attending physicians. ⋯ Reorganisation of the MICU in Period 2 resulted in reduced length of MICU stay for survivors. Hence, we believe that coverage by a dedicated ICU team and active respiratory care by a respiratory therapist during office hours were beneficial for the care of the critically ill. There was also a noticeable increase in the use of invasive monitoring.