Photo Credit: SDI Productions

The following is a summary of “Predictors of Emergency Physician Productivity in a National Emergency Medicine Group,” published in the March 2025 issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine by Oskvarek et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to identify physician and environmental factors associated with emergency physician productivity and examined its relationship with emergency department (ED) return rates.  

They analyzed data from 184 EDs across 24 states, all staffed by a national ED group, covering the period from January 2021 to December 2022. Clinical outcomes included 72-hour returns and returns with admission. A multivariable linear regression models were applied for incorporating physician, shift, and facility characteristics to evaluate associations.  

The results showed that 2,34,146 shifts among 2,099 physicians were analyzed, with an average of 1.94 patients per hour (SD = 0.57). Younger age and longer site tenure were linked to higher productivity, with increases persisting beyond 60+ months. A longer tenure was associated with a rise in patients per hour (0.06 [95% CI 0.02 to 0.09] at 6 months and 0.11 [95% CI 0.07 to 0.15] at 12 months). A weak association was observed between productivity, and shifts worked in the prior 3 to 30 days (0.003 patients per hour [95% CI 0.002 to 0.004] per additional shift). Lower productivity was noted during overnight shifts, non-Mondays, longer shifts, and when more physicians were on duty. A higher count of ED length-of-stay cases exceeding 6 hours (boarding patients) was negatively correlated with productivity. Increased productivity, both within-site and within-physician, was linked to slightly reduced 72-hour returns but showed no significant impact on returns with admission.  

Investigators concluded that physician- and shift-level factors were associated with emergency physician number of patients per hour, but a higher number of patients per hour was not associated with increased 72-hour returns with admission. 

Source: annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(25)00063-0/abstract