Adding more junior residents may worsen emergency department crowding.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although increasing staff numbers during shifts when emergency department (ED) crowding is severe can help meet patient demand, it remains unclear how different types of added staff, particularly junior residents, may affect crowding.

Methods

To identify associations between types of staff and ED crowding, we conducted a cross-sectional, single-center study in the ED of a large, teaching hospital in Japan between January and December 2012. Patients who visited the ED during the study period were enrolled. We excluded (1) patients previously scheduled to visit the ED, and (2) neonates transferred from other hospitals. During the study period, 27,970 patients were enrolled. Types of staff analyzed were junior (first and second year) residents, senior (third to fifth

SUBMITTER: Kawano T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4219696 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature