Who Should Handle Acute Admissions: Nurses or Doctors?
Author Information
Author(s): Christian B Mogensen, Anne Mette Mortensen, Peter B Staehr
Primary Institution: Kolding Hospital, Denmark
Hypothesis
How do experienced ED nurses perform when assessing requests for acute admissions compared to hospital physicians?
Conclusion
Nurses redirected significantly more patients to the correct hospital and used less time for assessments compared to physicians.
Supporting Evidence
- Nurses redirected 8% of patients to another hospital compared to 1% for physicians.
- Nurses referred 78% of patients to the correct hospital, while physicians referred 70%.
- Nurses spent a median of 1 minute on assessments, while physicians spent 2 minutes.
Takeaway
This study looked at whether nurses or doctors are better at deciding if patients should be admitted to the hospital. It found that nurses can do this just as well as doctors and take less time.
Methodology
Before-and-after study comparing two cohorts of patients assessed by nurses and physicians for emergency admissions.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to differences in the study groups and missing data.
Limitations
Not all referrals were recorded, and the cohorts were examined at different times of the year, which may affect results.
Participant Demographics
39 hospital physicians (9 specialists, 30 non-specialists) and 17 nurses participated; median age was 61 for physicians and 59 for nurses.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p < 0.0001
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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