Hansroth Joseph, Findley Scott W, Quedado Kimberly D, Marshall Thomas, Vucelik Andrew, Goode Christopher S
Emergency Medicine, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, USA.
Cureus. 2021 Mar 1;13(3):e13639. doi: 10.7759/cureus.13639.
Objective Although the urban emergency workforce is well studied, rural departments are less understood. This study seeks to further define the landscape of rural healthcare and expand on previous studies of the West Virginia (WV) workforce. Methods During the second quarter of 2019, surveys were sent via email to medical directors' professional IDs as anonymous survey links. Hard copies were also sent to directors at their hospital addresses. Responses were aggregated with hospitals stratified based on annual census and rural classification. Data was interpreted through descriptive analysis. Results Surveys were sent to 53 departments with a 55% response rate. Of the responding hospitals, 15 of 29 were identified as rural. The average state-wide annual hospital census was 29,500 visits with board-certified emergency medicine (EM)-trained physicians covering 67% of shifts. Rural departments have a smaller census and less specialized coverage. Full-time physicians are found to have the strongest ties to WV, with 65% attending medical school, residency, or growing up in the state. Conclusion Board-certified EM-trained physicians provide some level of coverage in most emergency departments in WV but remain underrepresented in rural locations. This specialized coverage has increased by 20% in the last 15 years. Additionally, a majority of hospitals have access to basic consulting services (surgery and primary care); however, other specialists are rare in rural WV.
目的 尽管对城市应急医疗人员已进行了充分研究，但农村地区的情况却鲜为人知。本研究旨在进一步明确农村医疗保健的状况，并扩展此前对西弗吉尼亚州（WV）医疗人员的研究。方法 在2019年第二季度，通过电子邮件将调查问卷作为匿名调查链接发送至医疗主任的专业ID。纸质版问卷也被寄送至各医院院长的办公地址。根据年度普查和农村分类对医院进行分层，汇总调查结果。通过描述性分析对数据进行解读。结果 共向53个科室发送了调查问卷，回复率为55%。在回复的医院中，29家医院里有15家被认定为农村医院。全州医院年度平均普查量为29,500人次，经董事会认证的接受过急诊医学（EM）培训的医生覆盖了67%的轮班。农村科室的普查量较小，专业覆盖范围也较窄。全职医生与WV的联系最为紧密，65%的全职医生在该州上过医学院、接受过住院医师培训或在该州长大。结论 经董事会认证的接受过EM培训的医生在WV的大多数急诊科提供了一定程度的覆盖，但在农村地区的代表性仍然不足。在过去15年中，这种专业覆盖范围增加了20%。此外，大多数医院都能获得基本咨询服务（外科和初级保健）；然而，其他专科医生在WV农村地区很少见。
