Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China.
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294 USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018 Aug 3;15(8):1649. doi: 10.3390/ijerph15081649.
Physicians play a primary role in patients' health. Heavy workloads can threaten the health of physicians and their patients. This study examined workload changes among physicians in Chinese health institutions from 1998⁻2016.
This study examined data from the online China Statistical Yearbook of 1999⁻2017, which is released annually by the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. Three relevant and available indicators were retrieved: (1) number of physicians, (2) number of patient visits and (3) number of inpatient admissions. Patient visits per physician and inpatient admissions per physician from 1998⁻2016 were calculated to approximate physician workloads in Chinese health institutions.
Between 1998 and 2016, patient visits per physician in China increased by 135% and inpatient admissions per physician rose by 184%. Both indicators demonstrate a stabilizing trend in the most recent five years, including a slight decrease (7%) in patient visits per physician since 2012.
Physician workload increased dramatically for Chinese physicians from 1998⁻2016, a trend that could potentially threaten physicians' health and the quality of patient care. The findings highlight the importance of interventions and efforts to relieve physician workloads in China.
医生在患者的健康中起着主要作用。工作量过大可能会威胁到医生及其患者的健康。本研究考察了 1998 年至 2016 年期间中国医疗机构中医生的工作量变化。
本研究分析了中华人民共和国国家统计局每年发布的《中国统计年鉴 1999-2017》中的数据。检索到了三个相关且可用的指标：（1）医生人数；（2）患者就诊次数；（3）住院患者人数。1998 年至 2016 年期间，计算出每位医生的患者就诊次数和住院患者人数，以近似中国医疗机构中医生的工作量。
1998 年至 2016 年间，中国每位医生的患者就诊次数增加了 135%，每位医生的住院患者人数增加了 184%。这两个指标在最近五年都呈现出稳定的趋势，包括自 2012 年以来每位医生的患者就诊次数略有下降（7%）。
1998 年至 2016 年期间，中国医生的工作量大幅增加，这一趋势可能会威胁到医生的健康和患者的护理质量。研究结果强调了在中国干预和努力减轻医生工作量的重要性。
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