ACEP policy statement on approriate number of pts/hour??

[MasterintuBater]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I seem to recall in residency that ACEP had released a generalized policy statement regarding 2 pts/hr as a safe practice environment, but on a thorough search of the ACEP website I can't seem to come up with anything. Does anyone know of a formal policy statement from ACEP or SAEM regarding appropriate and safe physician workload?

 

[Arcan57]

AAEM has a policy statement:

Therefore be it resolved that AAEM asserts that, as a guideline for comprehensive, moderate acuity emergency departments, the emergency physician staffing ratio should be based on the rate of patient influx such that the rate of 2.5 patients per physician per hour is not exceeded.

 

[xaelia]

Also:
Faculty Staffing Levels
It is important that each program maintain sufficient levels of faculty staff coverage in the emergency departments in order to ensure adequate clinical instruction and supervision, as well as efficient, high quality clinical operations. The RRC-EM uses a faculty staffing ratio of 4.5 patients per faculty hour or less as a guideline in this determination.

 

[deleted109597]

Unfortunately, as it is currently, there are no published guidelines pertaining to what expectations are for residents. If you look at the literature, the numbers go from a little less than 1 per hour for interns, up to close to 1.5 per hour for PGY-3. It's a stretch to expect someone to go from 1.5 to 2.5 per hour in less than a month. However, to learn effectively, I think seeing 2 or more pph makes it hard to learn. And since residency is about learning, ridiculous expectations for residents to see what a practicing attending sees, and to learn about their conditions is comical.