Premium
Which tasks performed by pre‐registration house officers out of hours are appropriate?
Author(s) -
McKEE M.,
PRIEST P.,
GINZLER M.,
BLACK N.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1992.tb00123.x
Subject(s) - pre registration , house staff , independence (probability theory) , psychology , nursing , work (physics) , medical education , medicine , family medicine , mechanical engineering , statistics , mathematics , engineering
Summary. This paper seeks to identify tasks performed out of hours by pre‐registration house officers and to determine whether they could be performed by someone other than a doctor. It was conducted in two parts: a descriptive study in four hospitals using diaries and interviews and a consensus panel consisting of four consultants, three junior doctors, and two nurses. The panel agreed that one‐third of the tasks performed by house officers at night could be done by someone other than a doctor. The work‐load of house officers could be reduced considerably by providing additional clerical and administrative support and a more widespread adoption of an extended role for nurses. However, the greater professional independence of nurses which may result might require doctors to redefine some of their roles.