The “Friday effect”: Can epidemiology tell us when to operate?

Excerpt

Concerns have long been voiced over the higher rates of adverse outcomes in patients emergently admitted to hospital over weekends.1,2 Indeed, more recent work addressing the effect of the day of the week as a factor in surgical outcomes has suggested that the odds of death are higher following elective surgery on a Friday compared with other days of the week.3 This “Friday effect” and the accompanying concerns over reduced staffing levels on weekends have been suggested as the main explanation for the differences in outcomes and have led to calls for increased weekend staffing. For example, in the United Kingdom (UK), the clinical director of the National Health Service has called this need for more staffing his number-one priority.4 …