Developing metrics for hospital medical workforce allocation.
Public hospitals deliver a broad range of specialist treatments to patients, with public demand for hospital services almost always outstripping supply. Health department and hospital managers prioritise requests for additional resources, such as medical staffing, across the full spectrum of services delivered. Without a clear and equitable basis of workload comparison across medical specialties, this decision-making process can be controversial and internally divisive. This paper outlines the development of a metric to guide the allocation of hospital medical staff. It suggests that a valid comparison of workload can be gained from the consideration of the number of inpatients (weighted for case complexity) and the number of outpatient presentations, as seen by each full-time hospital medical practitioner per annum. While this supports a "common sense" understanding of hospital medical activity, it also reflects limitations in the quality and quantity of data available. The replication and testing of this methodology in other jurisdictions is encouraged.
Hospitals and Ambulance Service Division, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Sociology and Social Work, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7020, Australia. elizabeth.shannon@dhhs.tas.gov.au
Elizabeth A
EA
Shannon
B Anne
BA
Brand
Kevin M
KM
Ratcliffe
Bruce K
BK
Tranter
D001315:Australia; D006292:Health Priorities; D006748:Hospital Departments; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010934:Planning Techniques; D040841:Resource Allocation / Q000379:methods; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload