Basic Data for Establishing the Emergency Plan to a Forty-hour workweek

Park,  Chung Keun; Lim,  Kyoung Soo; Kang,  Hee Dong; Sohn,  You Dong; Oh,  Bum Jin; Kim,  Won; Lee,  Boo Soo; Ahn,  Reuk; Hong,  Eun Seok

J Korean Soc Emerg Med > Volume 15(4); 2004 > Article

Original Article

Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2004;15(4): 248-253.

Basic Data for Establishing the Emergency Plan to a Forty-hour workweek

Chung Keun Park, Kyoung Soo Lim, Hee Dong Kang, You Dong Sohn, Bum Jin Oh, Won Kim, Boo Soo Lee, Reuk Ahn, Eun Seok Hong

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Kangneung, Korea. kslim@amc.seoul.kr
²Asan Hospital, Korea.
³Ulsan University Hospital, Korea.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Large hospitals should execute the forty-hour workweek from July 2004 as a matter of laws. Some institutes have used this system as the concept of five-day workweek since 2 years ago. To prepare for the forty-hour workweek effectively, all emergency physicians and headquarters of hospitals should make plans from this time. METHOD: We analyzed the emergency patients who visited the ER on two consecutive work-free days and ordinary days of last year. The number of patients, final results, such as admission or home discharge, the clinics participating in emergency care, and other components were analyzed according to two consecutive work-free days and the ordinary days. RESULT: The number of emergency patients who visited ER during the two consecutive work-free days was increased by 39.5~100.8% compared to the ordinary days. Although the number of emergency patients was larger during these days, the admission rate was lowered by 3.8~14.5%. Patients who were cared for by an emergency physician or a pediatric physician were markedly larger during the two consecutive work-free days, and the patients cared by an internal medicine were lower.
CONCLUSION:
To care for the emergency patients more effectively during the two consecutive work-free days in the forty-hour workweek system, we should increase the number of emergency physicians and pediatric physicians, and space for fast track and pediatric emergency care should be secured.

Key words: Workloads, Employee, Emergency, Emergency Service