According to the AAMC, a physician shortage is estimated to be as high as 122,000 physicians in the next decade. Arkansas has one of the lowest numbers of physicians actively practicing in the State. Mortality and health outcomes could be impacted by the physician shortage crisis in the state. The goal is to compare mortality rates, admission rates to Intensive Care Unit (ICU), number of days in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and hospital length of stay (LOS) among trauma cases arrived at an ED from a county with vs. without at least a level 3 or higher acuity care trauma hospital in the county. There were 15,831 trauma cases in this study. 9,554(60%) cases arrived at an ED from a county with at least one level 3 or higher acuity care hospital and 6,278(40%) cases arrived from a county without a level 3 or higher acuity care hospital. If the cases arrived at an ED from the Pulaski County, the trauma cases have 1.95 times higher mortality risk compared to other counties (OR=1.95; 95% CI=1.38 to 2.76; p-value=0.000143), after adjusting for age, sex, GCS, ISS, and type of injury.
Collapse