Quantitative increases in surgical house officer clinical activity as the basis for increased work loads in a university hospital.

BACKGROUND

House officer (HO) work loads, particularly work hours, have been the subject of considerable controversy. The hypothesis of this study was that a disproportionate work burden has been placed on HOs in teaching hospitals because of increased obligatory clinical activities and increased educational expectations.

METHODS

Factors directly and indirectly affecting care of surgical patients were related to individual HO efforts at the University of Michigan from 1981 to 1991. Data regarding clinical activity and support services were abstracted for analysis from hospital year-end reports, personnel rosters, and educational logs and correlated with the number of surgical HOs.

RESULTS

The total numbers of HOs in the Department of Surgery were relatively constant (122 +/- 4) throughout the study interval. Increases that occurred in annual hospital admissions (7615 to 10,651), discharges (7909 to 11,176), clinic visits (53,251 to 86,111), total operations (6789 to 16,526), and operating room hours (24,175 to 62,429) were significant (r greater than 0.9; p less than 0.001 in each category). The acuity of inpatient hospital care increased twofold, as measured by a case mix index, and was accompanied by a 125% increase in the number of surgical intensive care unit beds. During the study period, department of surgery faculty increased 49% (59 to 88), clinical nursing staff increased 118% (821 to 1794), hospital administrative staff increased 59% (2086 to 3320), and hospital support staff increased 53% (4134 to 6342). The number of students in each University of Michigan Medical School class, a group that might defray certain HO work loads, decreased significantly by 16% (226 to 189) during this time (r = -0.76; p less than 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

Disproportionate increases in work demands have been placed on surgical HOs compared with other health care team members during the past decade. Calculated work loads increased from 91.2 hr/wk/HO in 1981 to 110.9 hr/wk/HO in 1991. Balancing the increasing service activities with educational needs of surgical HOs remains a substantial challenge to be addressed by educators.