| Title | Hospitalist staffing requirements. | | Author(s) | Lurie JD, Wachter RM | | Institution | VA Outcomes Group, White River Junction, Vt., USA. | | Source | Eff Clin Pract 1999 May-Jun; 2(3):126-30. | | MeSH | Health Services Research
Hospitalists
Hospitals
Models, Statistical
Needs Assessment
Personnel Staffing and Scheduling
Quality of Health Care
United States
Workload
| | Abstract | CONTEXT: The use of hospitalists--physicians who spend a substantial portion of their time providing in-hospital care to the patients of primary care physicians--has been proposed as a way to decrease costs and increase the quality of inpatient care. COUNT: Number of full-time hospitalists. CALCULATIONS: Average daily census = annual admissions x length of stay divided by 365. Number of hospitalists = (average daily census divided by patients per hospitalist) + 1 extra hospitalist for night coverage.
DATA SOURCES: The average number of patients per hospitalist was obtained from a National Association of Inpatient Physicians membership survey. A low estimate of 10 patients per hospitalist was used to account for the extra manpower needed for coverage during vacations and other time off.
RESULTS: A hospital with 3000 admissions per year and an average length of stay of 5 days would have an average daily census of 41 patients and would need 5 full-time hospitalists. Hospitals with a lower patient volume would need fewer hospitalists and would probably need to find persons other than hospitalists to cover some nights and weekends.
CONCLUSIONS: Simple calculations based on hospital admissions and length of stay can estimate the number of hospitalists required for adequate staffing. Requirements will vary with the hospitalists' workload; the patient case complexity; and the duties other than inpatient care that are required of hospitalists, such as consultations, skilled nursing facility coverage, quality improvement work, teaching, and research. | | Language | eng | | Pub Type(s) | Journal Article
| | PubMed ID | 10538261 |
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