This paper estimates temperature impacts on workloads at hospital emergency departments in the People’s Republic of China between 2013 and 2022, finding that mean temperature is directly associated with inpatient admissions.
The results show that within emergency departments, the areas of internal medicine, surgery, and pediatrics experience greater increases in workload during extreme heat. Men, children, and patients with injuries or respiratory diseases make up a larger proportion of total admissions on extremely hot days. This research highlights the need for the healthcare system to increase personnel and adjust resource allocation in response to a changing climate.