If you have to go to the emergency room, here's a tip: Try going on a weekday.
According to John Hopkins researchers, weekend hospital stays are more deadly than other times.
The so-called "weekend effect" on patient outcomes has been well documented in cases of heart attack, stroke and aneurism treatment, Hopkins investigators say, and new research now affirms the problem in head trauma care as well.
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And, according to a report published online in the Journal of Surgical Research, it's no secret as to why: There are reduced staffing levels and a lack of ready access to specialists on the weekends at hospitals.
"There isn't a medical reason for worse results on weekends," says study leader Eric Schneider, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Center for Surgical Trials and Outcomes Research. "It's more likely a difference in how hospitals operate over the weekend as opposed to during the week, meaning that there may be a real opportunity for hospitals to change how they operate and save lives."
Schneider and his colleagues examined records from 38,675 people between 65 and 89 years of age (most head injuries occur in older people, he notes) admitted to U.S. hospitals with head trauma. In the study group, about 26 percent occurred on weekends.
Overall, the researchers found that weekend patients were 14 percent more likely to die from their injuries than weekday patients.
Schneider says one obvious solution is to staff every hospital on weekends at the same optimal level as weekdays, though it may be impractical and too expensive.
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