Introduction:
Since the year 2000, some hospitals have opened their clinics to a two shift per day system. We examined emergency department (ED) records to see how this change in clinic services effected the pattern of emergency department use.
Materials and Methods:
Retrospectively we examined charts from January-June 1999 (phase lr before the two-shift system) and January-June 2000 (phase II, after the two-shift system). Records of patients presenting to the pediatric, surgery and medicine sections of the emergency department were examined, and classified by their day of presentation (weekend vs. weekday).
Results:
A mean of 425 patients/day presented to the ED during phase I, and 325 during phase II, a decrease of 23%. Most (93%) of this decrease came from a reduction in medicine and pediatric patients in the ED.
Conclusion:
A dramatic decrease in numbers of patients presenting to the ED occurred when clinic services were made more available to patients.
Keywords: Shift work, medical clinic system