Abstract
The practice of obstetrics and gynecology (Ob/Gyn) raised a social issue. We developed a new methodology which combines work hour log and administrative data, and further assessed Japanese Ob/Gyn practice workload.
Thirty-four Ob/Gyn physicians from 4 hospitals were recruited to self-report work hour log for 1 week. And then medical procedures were extracted from administrative (Diagnosis Procedure Combination DPC) data and aggregated. Finally we integrated data derived from the above two methods to assess factors underlying increased work hours in Ob/Gyn practice.
Results shows work duration for a single physician averaged 558 minutes per day in total, with 112 minutes for outpatient care, 306 minutes for inpatient care, 87 minutes operating, and 42 minutes for other services. Our data also demonstrates that the number of operations, vaginal deliveries, and intensive care patients influenced work hours for inpatient care. Using these factors, we could estimate requisite workloads for Ob/Gyn practice. Improved estimation of workload permits more concrete discussion on how to restructure the healthcare system.
