There Is No Weekend Effect in the Trauma Patient

Area of Science:

• Trauma Care
• Health Services Research
• Patient Outcomes

Background:

• A
• weekend effect
• has been observed in various medical specialties, potentially due to staffing or resource limitations.
• This phenomenon suggests increased patient morbidity or mortality for weekend hospital admissions.
• The study investigates its presence in U.S. trauma care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if a
• weekend effect
• exists in trauma patient admissions within the United States.
• To analyze the impact of weekend admission on mortality and length of stay (LOS) in trauma patients.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of the 2012-2015 National In-patient Sample database for adult trauma admissions.
• Logistic and negative binomial regression models were used to assess mortality and LOS, adjusting for relevant covariates.
• Subgroup analyses included hospital types (rural, urban teaching, urban nonteaching) and patients requiring surgery.

Main Results:

• Weekend trauma admissions showed no statistically significant difference in adjusted mortality (OR 0.928) or length of stay (IRR 0.978).
• No significant increase in mortality or LOS was observed for weekend admissions across rural, urban teaching, and urban nonteaching hospital subgroups.
• Subgroup analysis of patients requiring surgery also revealed no significant weekend effect.

Conclusions:

• The study concludes that a
• weekend effect
• does not appear to impact trauma admissions in the U.S.
• This finding may be attributed to the 24-hour in-house coverage common in U.S. trauma care.
• Implementing similar coverage models could potentially mitigate the weekend effect in other medical services.