A critical analysis of orthopedic work load in a teaching hospital in the United Arab Emirates as a stimulus for improving patient care

Objectives: To analyse the quality and quantity of orthopaedic service provided to the community and to utilize the data for improving patient care, undergraduate curriculum development and research. Design: Retrospective audit of the inpatient, outpatient and operative workload over a period of four years. Setting: Orthopedic Department of a newly designated teaching hospital. Subjects: All patients attending orthopedic and trauma outpatients' clinics, all admissions with elective orthopedic ailments and orthopedic trauma and all patients undergoing elective orthopedic and orthopedic trauma operations. Results: A total of 4404 patients were admitted during the study period. Out of this, 1498 patients had 1623 operations. The age and sex distribution of patients were significantly different from that of the West. The data revealed that the orthopedic input is deficient in certain categories. Conclusion: The data collected provided the baseline information for the department and was useful in defining areas of weakness that required improvement, This has proved extremely useful in planning the undergraduate and postgraduate orthopedic teaching programmes.