If you have the voice, you may want to avoid schedules for your next surgery on Friday.
The most comprehensive analysis of what happens to patients undergoing surgery on Friday and Monday was published this month Jama More than 12 US and Canadian researchers become clear. On average, those who suffered short-term, medium-term, and long-term complications on average than those who went under the knife after the weekend, are those who on average undergo all sorts of procedures.
The study is based in Ontario and included more than 450,000 patients who underwent one of the 25 most common surgeries between 2007 and 2019. Canada's Universal Health Care Program allows researchers to track patients more easily and eliminate finances as a variable in how patients progressed.
Previous studies have generally found the same effects in different types of health systems. One UK-based study reported improvements in surgery on Monday 30 days later. A paper looking at patients in the Netherlands detected a higher mortality rate one month later for patients undergoing Friday surgery compared to Monday. As previous US-based research has also proven, this appears to be a phenomenon regardless of country.
This new study covers all surgical specialties, including orthopedic surgery, vascular surgery, and obstetrics, and followed patient outcomes for 30, 90 days and 1 year. This study tracked whether a patient died, was readmitted to the hospital, or experienced other complications such as infectious diseases during his hospital stay.
Those who underwent a pre-weekend surgery were defined as Friday or Thursday before a long weekend – were generally about 5% more likely to experience one of these complications within a year of surgery than those who underwent a pre-weekend procedure (Monday or Tuesday after a long weekend). This effect was stronger with heart and vascular surgery. It was negligible in obstetric and plastic surgery.
Researchers' analysis shows that there may be a few things going on here.
The researchers found that Friday surgery is more likely to be performed by late surgeons when compared to Monday surgery. “This expertise difference may play a role in the differences in observed outcomes,” they write based on statistical analyses that control for other factors.
The authors also said that hospital campuses may have fewer senior colleagues for junior doctors to consult with. Additionally, doctors and nurses on weekends may be less familiar with the patient's case, increasing the risk of complications being caught later and thus worsening the outcome.
Betty Rambourg, a professor of nursing at the University of Rhode Island, is just as common as hospitals tend to have fewer doctors and nurses working on weekends and fewer nurses and less experienced nurses.
“The combination of a small number of staff and less experienced staff certainly can contribute to poor patient outcomes,” she said.
Findings must rethink how hospital executives staff their wards on Fridays and weekends to motivate them to avoid complications that put surgical patients at risk.
Of course, this is useful information for those of us who need elective surgery at any point in the future. Whether you are carefully stationary to coincide with the March madness or knee replacement, it is worth trying to find a time slot early in the week if you can plan your steps ahead of time.
