Journal article
Weekend versus weekday hospital admission: Is there a difference in mortality?
Journal of clinical outcomes management, Vol.11(9), pp.551-552
09/01/2004
Abstract
Objective. To compare mortality rates of patients admitted to hospitals on weekends with patients admitted on weekdays and to determine if differences in mortality (if any) varied between teaching versus nonteaching hospitals. Design. Retrospective analysis of administrative data of patients discharged from California hospitals. Settings and participants. 641,860 patients who were admitted from the emergency department for any of 50 common conditions were eligible for analysis. Main outcome measure. In-hospital death. Main results. The mean age of patients was 67 years and just over 50% of the study population were women. While 72% of patients were admitted on weekdays, 28% were admitted on the weekend. Mortality rate of patients admitted on weekdays was 6.4%, and the mortality rate of those admitted on weekends was 6.7% (odds ratio, 1.03 [95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.06]; P = 0.005). However, increased mortality rates among weekend admissions were only present for 3 of the 50 conditions studied. In contrast, the weekend admissions mortality rate was lower for 15 clinical conditions. Major teaching hospitals had a larger gap in mortality between weekend and weekday admissions as compared with minor teaching hospitals or nonteaching hospitals. Conclusion. Being admitted to the hospital on a weekend was associated with slightly higher mortality risk than being admitted to the hospital on a weekday This gap seemed to be more pronounced in academic hospitals. Decreased staffing during weekends may be a factor to explain these gaps.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Weekend versus weekday hospital admission: Is there a difference in mortality?
- Creators
- P CramS HillisM BarnettG Rosenthal
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of clinical outcomes management, Vol.11(9), pp.551-552
- Publisher
- Turner White Communications Inc
- ISSN
- 1079-6533
- eISSN
- 1938-1336
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/01/2004
- Academic Unit
- Biostatistics; Radiology
- Record Identifier
- 9984318703202771
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