Does the admitting officer system reduce the time taken to arrange an emergency admission to hospital?
OBJECTIVE
Communication is an important feature of admitting acutely ill patients to hospital in both New Zealand and Australia. The mechanisms used to facilitate communication between the general practitioner (GP) and the admitting hospital differ between the two countries. The relative effectiveness of each of these systems has never been formally studied. Our aim was to compare the efficiency of the admitting officer system for arranging hospital admissions (used in Australia) with that of direct referral by the GP to the specialist registrar (the system used in New Zealand).


METHODS
Five metropolitan hospitals of comparable size from each country were selected and the time taken to contact the relevant doctor in order to arrange admission of an acutely ill patient was documented.


RESULTS
A total of 120 contact attempts were made, 60 in each country. The total time taken to contact the admitting doctor in order to arrange an emergency assessment for a patient was significantly longer in New Zealand than it was in Australia (p <0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
When arranging an emergency patient assessment for a patient in the community, the total time taken to contact the appropriate doctor is less in Australia, where the admitting officer system is used, than it is in New Zealand, using the specialist registrar system. Consideration should be given by acute hospitals in New Zealand to streamlining their communications processes in order to minimise delays to referring doctors and their patients.
Emergency Department, Latrobe Regional Hospital, Traralgon, Victoria, Australia. alan.oconnor@bigpond.com
Alan
A
O'Connor
Michael
M
Roberts
David
D
Ramrekha
Greg
G
Williams
D001315:Australia; D004630:Emergencies; D005194:Family Practice; D006786:Hospitals, Urban / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D009520:New Zealand; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D000078329:Workforce