Journal article
Queues and Care: How Medical Residents Organize Their Work in a Busy Clinic
Journal of health and social behavior, Vol.31(3), pp.292-305
09/1990
DOI: 10.2307/2136893
PMID: 2133482
Abstract
How do medical residents organize their work in settings where queue demands are heavy and resources are limited? Under such conditions, a queue theory would predict the delivery of care that is indifferent to clients' needs or that gets rid of clients as quickly as possible. In an exploratory case study of medical residents in a Veterans Administration outpatient clinic, we found instead that the medical residents' work was characterized by a high level of professional commitment: they provided thorough medical examinations and attempted to expedite patient care in other ways. We attribute the residents' professional ethos to opportunities provided in the VA hospital to learn the craft of routine medicine and to be directly responsible for patient care; such opportunities were not available in other settings.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Queues and Care: How Medical Residents Organize Their Work in a Busy Clinic
- Creators
- William FinlayElizabeth J MutranRodney R ZeitlerChristina S Randall
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of health and social behavior, Vol.31(3), pp.292-305
- DOI
- 10.2307/2136893
- PMID
- 2133482
- ISSN
- 0022-1465
- eISSN
- 2150-6000
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/1990
- Academic Unit
- General Internal Medicine; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984094590302771
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