Presence of admitting team in emergency department, does it make a difference?

The Emergency Department [ED] Admitting Team was established on the 1st of September 2005 to attend patients admitted to Hamad General Hospital [HGH]. The team followed 1,065 patients for 3 months [September, October and November 2005].The study reports the change noticed during the period, on admission-disposition duration. The majority of patients were males [75%] and non-Qatari [72%], with medical cases more common than surgical cases. For the medical cases, chest infection was the leading cause of admission followed by coronary artery disease, while orthopedic cases followed by acute appendicitis were the main surgical causes of admission. The admitting team was able to cancel 10% of cases as most of them improved while pending admission. In addition, the admitting team facilitated admission of many patients to Intensive Care Units or to Operation rooms. The results were reviewed and the presence of the admitting team in ED was found to be beneficial