title: 'The time it takes…' How doctors spend their time admitting a patient during the acute medical take.
abstract: Patient safety depends on adequate staffing but the number of doctors required for safe staffing for medical emergencies is not known. We measured the duration of the admission process for patients seen by medical teams in emergency departments (EDs) and acute medical units. History taking and examination by a core medical trainee took 22 minutes for a patient referred from the ED and 21 minutes for a patient referred from primary care. A complete admission clerking with prescription and ordering of investigations ranged from a mean of 15 minutes for a consultant in acute medicine to a mean of 55 minutes for a foundation year 1 trainee. The duration of post-take ward rounds also showed significant variability.Our data can be used to model staffing patterns if combined with information about admission numbers and local set up.
authors.affiliation: Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, UK.
authors.forename: Jodie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sabin
authors.affiliation: Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, UK.
authors.forename: Waleed
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, UK christian.subbe@wales.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Christian P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Subbe
authors.affiliation: Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, UK.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.affiliation: Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, UK.
authors.forename: Iman
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Abulela
authors.affiliation: Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, UK.
authors.forename: Anwar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, UK.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mohammed
mesh_terms: D003253:Consultants; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Acute medicine; consultant; junior doctor; shifts; workload