J Korean Soc Emerg Med.
2017 Jun;28(3):263-270. 10.0000/jksem.2017.28.3.263.
Analysis on Workforce and Workload of Korean Emergency Physicians
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department Emergency Medicine, Soonchunhyang University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. jesumania@gmail.com
- KMID: 2386578
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/jksem.2017.28.3.263
Abstract
- PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to understand the workforce and the workload of emergency physicians based depending on their experiences.
METHODS
This study analyzed the results of the 2015 Korean Emergency Physician Survey performed between August and October 2015.
RESULTS
Of the total 1,418 emergency physicians, 437 (30.8%) answered the questionnaire. One thousand one hundred twenty emergency physicians currently work in the emergency room and 415 (37.1%) of them responded to the questionnaire. There were 29,324 annual visitors to the emergency rooms in which the emergency physicians who responded to the questionnaire work, of which, 5,693 (19.4%) were hospitalized. Full time equivalent (FTE) per institution was 4.29, assuming that only one emergency physician was on duty in the each emergency room at any given time of day. Currently, the average number of physicians per institution is 4.3; therefore, the ratio of FTE to emergency physicians is about 1. However, according to the Korean Emergency Medicine Association, one emergency physician should treat 2.5 patients per hour. Based on this, the corrected FTE value should be 5.79, and the ratio of FTE to emergency physicians needs to be 0.74.
CONCLUSION
Based on this research, it is expected that emergency physicians will have a strategy for proper manpower supply.
