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Rural Emergency Department Staffing: Implications for the Quality of Emergency Care Provided in Rural Areas
This project will describe emergency department (ED) staffing patterns of rural hospitals in different regions of the country; determine how the certification, training, and experience of ED physicians and other providers in different ED staffing models vary; and assess the implications of rural ED staffing for the quality of emergency care in rural areas, continuity of care, and rural EDs’ role as safety net providers.
The project includes collection of primary data from a phone survey of a national sample of rural hospitals, analysis of the survey data in conjunction with secondary data from the AHA Annual Survey and Area Resource File, and interviews of health policy staff in several key states with significant rural populations regarding state initiatives related to ED staffing.
Publications
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Rural Emergency Department Staffing: Implications for the Quality of Emergency Care Provided in Rural Areas
Author(s): Michelle M. Casey, D. Wholey, Ira Moscovice
Date: 06 / 2007
The purpose of this project was to describe rural emergency department staffing nationally and to assess the potential implications of staffing for the quality of emergency care provided in rural areas. A national telephone survey of a random sample of rural hospitals with less than 100 beds was conducted in June to August 2006. The study found that the majority of rural hospitals use more than one type of staffing to cover their Emergency Department (ED), including combinations of physicians on their own medical staff, contracts with emergency physician management groups and with individual physicians, and physician assistants and nurse practitioners. The study concluded that it is important to ensure that the family physicians, internists, PAs, NPs and nurses who staff rural EDs have the expertise and technical skills needed to provide optimal ED care, and that rural ED staff may benefit from additional continuing education opportunities, particularly in terms of specialized skills to care for pediatric emergency patients and trauma patients and training in working effectively in teams. Report available upon request by calling 701.777.3848 or email raasc001@umn.edu.
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Rural Emergency Department Staffing: Implications for the Quality of Emergency Care Provided in Rural Areas (Brief)
Date: 08 / 2007
Reports results of a study of rural emergency department staffing and discusses potential implications of staffing for the quality of emergency care provided in rural areas.
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