“Don’t go to the hospital in July.”
That’s the prevailing public perception, since that’s when new resident-physicians begin their hospital training. And indeed, there have been studies from Australia and England showing a higher rate of death and adverse events during this time.
But what about in the United States?
Recent data isn’t so conclusive. A piece from American Medical News points to a recent study from the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, which concludes that “there are no differences for in-hospital mortality rates, number of days patients spent in intensive care units or on ventilator support, or minutes spent undergoing resuscitation for trauma patients treated in July compared with other months.”
Another study from 2003 looked at over 4,000 tumor operations nationwide, and found no difference in adverse events when comparing July to other months.
One reason for this finding is the increased focus on patient safety and transparency on medical errors. Resident doctors and medical students are now more closely supervised by attending physicians than ever before. That safety net is probably what contributes to a smoother transition when freshly minted doctors take care of patients for the first time.
So, you shouldn’t be scared about getting sick in the summer months.
Related posts:
- The July phenomenon
- The hospital hierarchy
- Do resident work-hour restrictions increase surgical complications?
- Do you know the name of your hospital doctor?
- 5 top medical comments, July 5th, 2009
- Hospital CEOs should be vetted more thoroughly
- Is emergency department boarding associated with undesirable events?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Right … now that housestaff hours are curtailed, the July effect lingers throughout the year. No good deed goes unpunished.
Doc99 is right. A November intern in 2009 is equivalent to an August intern in 1989.
That is the biggest bunch of crap I have ever read from two the two docs above. I bet if we look at how many cases you managed versus how many cases I manage I would run circles around you even though you were in the hospital running scut til all hours of the night. The sheer amount of patients that hospitals see compared to the days when insurance and medicare would let people stay for ungodly amounts of time will more than make up for missing at most 15 delirious hours a week. (that’s assuming you guys did 100 hours every week for 54 weeks a year as opp. to my 80-85 hours/week for 54 weeks a year with 2 weeks vacation and q4 call).
PS… I meant that I work 54 weeks a year (56 weeks – 2 weeks vacation).
Uh…. Last time I checked the calendar, there were 52 weeks in a year.
I guess Obama added 4 extra weeks to the year along with the 7 extra states he added to the US.
Errr…. 52 weeks minus 2 weeks. Sorry I was multitasking when writing that post I guess my year just FEELS like 56 weeks now
There is always a senior resident supervising. Also as an intern, you don’t go to the OR to do a case, without any supervision.