Weekends can be quiet times at hospitals. Overall staffing is lower, and many areas are closed except in the case of emergencies. Given that a lot of what does occur in hospitals is "routine," the question is, does it make a difference? A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine states that it might. The article, which looked at the short, medium and one year mortality rates of over 230,00 patients with myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) in NJ over a 15 year period showed that being admitted to the hospital over a weekend increased the absolute risk of death by over 1%. When the researchers looked at the data, there were no significant differences in the health or presentation of patients on weekends versus weekdays.
An interesting editorial in the Journal, by two Canadian physicians, notes that in Canada, hospitals and physicians are paid more when performing invasive cardiology procedures on the weekend, thus making it tenable to gather together the team required to perform these procedures. The editorialists note that this is similar to paying overtime; common in almost all other lines of work.
Obviously, if you have chest pain, don't wait till Monday before going to the Emergency Room! We are happy to note that the cardiologists at NYU (where we admit) always seem willing to come in on weekends.
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