Weekend effect

In medicine, the weekend effect is the finding of a higher mortality for patients admitted to the hospital on the weekends than on the weekdays for several acute conditions (e.g. myocardial infarction, aortic aneurysms ).

Examples


One study in the UK found a higher hazard ratio for mortality for stroke patients treated on the weekend when there were fewer nurses per patient bed. The authors suggest that the weekend effect might be mediated through lower numbers of nursing staff on the weekend.