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Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2005;16(3): 356-362. |
| Effects of Weekend on the Prognoses for Patients Visiting to Emergency Medical Centers |
| Min Jung Kim, Dae Rho Lee, Gab Teug Kim |
| Department of Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Chunan, Korea. gtkim@medigate.net |
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| ABSTRACT |
PURPOSE:
Despite the increased number of patients visiting emergency rooms on weekends, the level of staffing is often lower than it is on weekdays. It is uncertain whether in-hospital mortality rates among patients depend on when they visited the hospital on a weekend or on a weekday.
METHODS:
We analyzed 21,645 patients who visited our emergency department in 2003. We compared death within 48 hours after a visit to the emergency room between patients who visited on weekends and those with visited on weekdays.
The odds of death within 48 hours for patients who visited on a weekend were analyzed by using a multivariate logistic regression. The severity of illness was adjusted by using triage and the Charlson comorbidity score.
RESULTS:
Compared with patients who visited on weekdays, the number of patients who visited on weekends was increased in 30%. The mortality rates were not statistically different for patients who visited on weekends and patients who visited on weekdays (3.1% vs 2.8%, p=0.399). However, two diagnoses (pneumonia and spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage) were associated significantly with a weekend effect.
CONCLUSION:
Visiting the emergency department on weekends was not associated with a higher mortality than visiting the emergency department on weekdays. |
| Key words:
Hospital mortality, Weekends |
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