Medical student effect on emergency department length of stay

Study objective: Taking advantage of a medical student strike. the authors evaluated the effect of medical students on emergency department length of slay (LOS). Methods: ED LOS and patient characteristics were compared for the 4-day str ike period and the same days the week before. Proportions were compared by using the Mann-Whitney U test and the chi (2) test (P<.05). Results: Eight hundred thirty-one patients were studied. There was no signi ficant difference between the study and control periods for the general pat ient characteristics or laboratory or radiologic investigations. Median LOS decreased by 24% (31 minutes, 95% confidence interval [CI] 24 to 38) durin g the strike (110 minutes [95% CI 65 to 178] to 79 minutes [95% CI 40 to 13 5], P<10(-4)). Conclusion: Medical students lengthen ED FOS. This should be explained to p atients and should be considered as one justification for increasing medica l staff in the teaching ED.