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In this article O’Dowd highlights the implications of high bed occupancy rates on patient safety and hospital efficacy, with reference to data published by NHS England. The bed occupancy rates from the first quarter of 2021 were 83.8%. This is greater than the first and last quarter of 2020, with rates at 64.7% and 80.9% respectively(1).
O’Dowd highlights that in order for hospitals to ensure patient safety, bed occupancy levels should not exceed 85%. Interviews with NHS providers however, suggest that in-patient numbers are expected to increase in the upcoming months as the summer is coming to an end(2).
Greater bed occupancy rates imply that healthcare professionals will be busier than ever. This could not only compromise patient safety, as outlined in this article, but may have further implications on medical student training. Whilst not immediately impacting upon patient safety, this could affect doctor safety and competence in the future.
A key component of medical education involves students learning from experienced healthcare professionals in a hospital setting. This provides opportunities to observe and practise history taking, examinations and procedures on real patients, often under the supervision of clinicians. If bed occupancy rates continue to rise, the availability of hospital staff will decrease. This poses a threat to medical education as a lack of healthcare professionals directly impacts the number of learning opportunities for students.
Many medical students have already experienced a lack of in-person, ward-based teaching due to COVID-19. To compensate for this there has been an increase in self-directed study and online teaching. Teaching via this platform however is not comparable to interacting with patients in real-time, seeing conditions in the flesh, and practising examinations.
If this increase in bed occupancy rates continues, the impact it could have on future doctors could be immense, with many medical students missing out on two or more years without proper in-person teaching with real patients in a hospital setting. This could be detrimental to the new generation of doctors. As such, this increase in bed occupancy may therefore not only be a problem today, but may compromise patient safety and hospital efficiency in the future.
Implications of dangerously high hospital bed occupancy rates on medical education.
Dear Editor,
Thank you for such an eye-opening article.
In this article O’Dowd highlights the implications of high bed occupancy rates on patient safety and hospital efficacy, with reference to data published by NHS England. The bed occupancy rates from the first quarter of 2021 were 83.8%. This is greater than the first and last quarter of 2020, with rates at 64.7% and 80.9% respectively(1).
O’Dowd highlights that in order for hospitals to ensure patient safety, bed occupancy levels should not exceed 85%. Interviews with NHS providers however, suggest that in-patient numbers are expected to increase in the upcoming months as the summer is coming to an end(2).
Greater bed occupancy rates imply that healthcare professionals will be busier than ever. This could not only compromise patient safety, as outlined in this article, but may have further implications on medical student training. Whilst not immediately impacting upon patient safety, this could affect doctor safety and competence in the future.
A key component of medical education involves students learning from experienced healthcare professionals in a hospital setting. This provides opportunities to observe and practise history taking, examinations and procedures on real patients, often under the supervision of clinicians. If bed occupancy rates continue to rise, the availability of hospital staff will decrease. This poses a threat to medical education as a lack of healthcare professionals directly impacts the number of learning opportunities for students.
Many medical students have already experienced a lack of in-person, ward-based teaching due to COVID-19. To compensate for this there has been an increase in self-directed study and online teaching. Teaching via this platform however is not comparable to interacting with patients in real-time, seeing conditions in the flesh, and practising examinations.
If this increase in bed occupancy rates continues, the impact it could have on future doctors could be immense, with many medical students missing out on two or more years without proper in-person teaching with real patients in a hospital setting. This could be detrimental to the new generation of doctors. As such, this increase in bed occupancy may therefore not only be a problem today, but may compromise patient safety and hospital efficiency in the future.
1. NHS England. Bed availability and occupancy data: overnight. 19 August 2021. www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/bed-availability-an....
2. O’Dowd A. Hospital bed occupancy rates in England reach dangerously high levels. BMJ. 2021;374:n2079. doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2079
Competing interests: No competing interests