Physicians to patient ratio in the accident and emergency department of Salmaniya medical centre

ABSTRACT

The average annual number of patients seen in Accident and Emergency [A/E] Department in Salmaniya Medical Center [SMC] is 170,293 and the average time spent by the SMC A/E physician is 10.45 minutes/patient. The purpose of this study is to calculate the optimal number of physicians needed to look after these patients using the Bahrain Civil Service Bureau formula. Our figures indicated a need for a minimum of 33 physicians, but the Department is now run on 16 doctors only. One of the most difficult questions to answer in emergency medicine is "How many physicians on an average do we need to cover our emergency department"? The answer to this question is complex and depends on many factors such as the qualifications and experience of the emergency physicians, the patients flow, the philosophic attitude towards treatment of patients in A/E, the acuteness of the illness, management procedure and the financial structure on which the Emergency Department physicians group is based