We can all agree that the only “good time” to go to the hospital is when you get to welcome a new member of the family into the world. Beyond that, no one wants to make the trip if they can avoid it.
Yet, for 139.8 million Americans, it’s unavoidable. That is how many emergency room visits there were, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In addition to the ER visits, the American Hospital Association found that there were 33,679,935 admissions across the country’s 6,120 hospitals. Many of those admissions are transfers from the ER, which means there is a need for a hospital stay.
The other category of admissions is elective, which means any surgery that’s scheduled in advance and not considered a life-threatening emergency.
For elective procedures, you have the opportunity to schedule your visit around the time that works best for your schedule. Not only do you have to factor in your hospital stay but also your recovery time.
This is when the issue of whether there is a more dangerous time to be a patient in a hospital may come up.
The answer, unfortunately, isn’t cut and dry.
The July Effect
There’s a common belief that July is the worst time to schedule elective surgery or be a hospital patient.
This is because, traditionally, July is when the new student doctors come into the hospital and begin their rotations. Although these new doctors are supervised and can’t really make decisions without approval, there are still mistakes.
According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, there was a 10% increase in wrong medication prescriptions in July in the hospitals reporting the data. On the other hand, there’s no significant change in the successful outcome of surgeries because the student doctors wouldn’t be performing them in the first place.
Weekend Versus Weekday
Is there a better day of the week to be admitted to a hospital?
A report published by Medical Care found there were several conditions where the risk for substandard care may be higher, including the following:
- High hospital occupancy
- Weekend admissions
- Nurse staffing levels
- Seasonal flu
Obviously, it would be difficult to check the staffing levels when you schedule a procedure weeks in advance. However, it’s worth asking about the hospital’s current status for flu cases and staffing levels as you approach your admission.
Time of Day and Holidays
Some emergency situations you just can’t plan for, like a heart attack. When that happens, you need to get to the hospital immediately, regardless of the time of day. Unfortunately, that time of day could impact your care.
Tech Times reported on a study that found heart attack patients who show up at a hospital on weekend nights, weekends, or holidays have a 13% increased risk of dying versus patients who get taken care of during regular business hours.
You probably won’t have to worry about elective surgery being scheduled at night or over a holiday, but it is worth noting the potential risks.
When Hospital Visits Go Wrong
Those millions of ER visits each year are for everything from a kid who broke their arm skateboarding to severe issues like car accident injuries. Regardless, there’s no such thing as an empty ER. The pressure that doctors, nurses, and staff are under during an ER shift can sometimes lead to dropping the ball when it comes to diagnosis or recommended treatment.
Those miscalculations may trigger an emergency room error that causes more harm than the original injury or condition.
If you schedule your elective procedure in the “safe zone,” there is still a risk for complications.
Those risks will be explained in your consent form, but it doesn’t absolve the hospital staff from negligence that goes beyond the accepted risks. When hospital visits go wrong, it might be time to speak with the attorneys at Shrager, Sachs, & Blanco.
We’re experienced medical malpractice attorneys who’ve helped clients navigate the complexities of these types of claims. It’s always disheartening when a doctor you put your trust in lets you down, but there still needs to be accountability no matter when you visit the hospital.
