Dive Brief:
- A new study published in the BMJ finds that patients admitted to hospitals on weekends suffer higher rates of hospital-acquired conditions than those admitted on weekdays.
- The study examined data from more than 351 million patients admitted to U.S. hospitals between 2002 and 2010, and adjusted for patient characteristics, such as the severity of the condition for which they presented at the hospital.
- The researchers found that weekend admission was associated with a more than 20% increase in HACs. They were identified in 5.7% of weekend admissions, compared to 3.7% in weekday admissions.
Dive Insight:
The study raises questions over why weekends are associated with higher incidences of HACs, but doesn't answer them.
Researcher Sarah Krein at the Ann Arbor VA Center for Clinical Management Research at the University of Michigan suggests patients admitted on weekends may often be sicker.
"It isn't clear whether more aggressive prevention efforts are needed on weekends or whether patients admitted on weekends should be viewed as high-risk for hospital-acquired complications thus warranting extra vigilance throughout the course of their hospital stay," Krein, who wasn't involved in the study, told Reuters.