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Lower levels of hospital staffing on weekends
may increase the risk of death among patients with some life-threatening
disorders.
The study of nearly 3.8 million emergency
hospitalizations in Canada found that patients with certain
medical conditions were more
likely to die if they were admitted on a Saturday or Sunday
compared with patients admitted from Monday through Friday.
For instance, patients with a ruptured
abdominal aortic aneurysm -- a tearing in the artery wall
that causes potentially fatal bleeding -- were 28% more likely
to die when they were admitted on a weekend, the investigators
found.
Also, patients with pulmonary embolism,
in which an artery in the lung is blocked with a clot or other
material, or acute epiglottitis, an infection that causes
severe swelling of the structure that closes the windpipe
when a person swallows, were also at increased risk of death
if they were brought to the hospital on a weekend.
The findings support the results of previous
studies. The rate
of death among infants born on a Saturday or Sunday is slightly
higher than the death rate among babies
born during the week, for instance, while patients who overdose
on drugs may fare worse on the weekends.
The researchers note that working
on the weekend is unpopular and that people who
work on a Saturday or Sunday may have less
experience than those who work during the week.
The
New England Journal of Medicine August 30, 2001;345:663-668
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