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If You Go To The Hospital This Weekend, You’re Probably Going To Die.

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by smoove shoez, May 23, 2011.

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  1. smoove shoez

    smoove shoez Member

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    A recent study has shown that U.S. patients who are admitted to the hospital during the weekend are "10 percent more likely to die than those who check in during the week".

    The study was based on a sampling of "nearly 30 million people" and found that up to 25,000 of them died because of "admission on a weekend":

    Author of the study, Dr. Rocco Ricciardi of Tufts University Medical School, said the research is based on a sample of close to 30 million people who were admitted to hospitals in 35 states over a five year period.

    He and his colleagues found that 2.7 per cent of the people admitted during the weekend died while in the hospital, while only 2.3 percent of those admitted on a weekday died.

    It is not the first study to uncover a 'weekend effect.' Previous research has shown such an effect for patients admitted after a heart attack, a blood clot in a lung, a ruptured abdominal artery and all kinds of strokes.

    But not everyone agrees with the doctor whose name sounds unfortunately similar to Ricky Ricardo:

    Dr Raman Khanna, at the University of California at San Francisco, who was not involved in the study, said: 'Either the patients coming to the hospital on weekends are sicker or else the hospital is doing a worse job of treating them.'

    So more people are dying on the weekends than during the week. That could make sense.

    Perhaps more people are admitted during the weekend and the hospitals are understaffed. It's horribly unfortunate if that's the case, but its fairly understandable.

    But wait! There's more! And it's called "The Reason You Should Never Go To The Hospital On The Weekend Or During July Or Pretty Much Ever", also known as the "July Effect":

    Researchers from the University of California at San Diego found that fatal medication errors rose 10 percent in July in counties with teaching hospitals.

    David P. Phillips, the sociology professor who led the analysis, said July is the month that just-graduated medical residents start their new jobs, leading to mistakes caused by inexperience.

    Basically, if I read this correctly (and I'm preeeetty certain I did), if you can avoid getting sick during that month —or during the roughly 48 weekends a year— you probably won't die. Ever.

    http://jezebel.com/5804241/if-you-go-to-the-hospital-this-weekend-youre-probably-going-to-die
     
    #1 smoove shoez, May 23, 2011
  2. heypartner

    heypartner Member

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    Is it more likely people do dangerous and stupid things on the weekend...or during the week?

    What about while on vacation in July or curled up in the winter in bed?

    What a really stupid study. People get grants for this stuff? And they believe it?
     
    #2 heypartner, May 23, 2011
  3. dntrwl

    dntrwl Member

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    "10% more likely" = probably?

    gtfo.
     
    #3 dntrwl, May 24, 2011
  4. shastarocket

    shastarocket Member

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    Admittedly, the study seems pretty stupid according to the article. However, you have to understand the thought process behind why they might ask this question. The end goal of these studies is not to prove points that we find obvious, but to see if we can identify a reason why things are the way they are and to see if we can unveil some information that is not immediately obvious at first glance. All in the name of progress.

    Here is the actual abstract (i think):

    http://archsurg.ama-assn.org/cgi/co...on&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
     
    #4 shastarocket, May 24, 2011
  5. david_rocket

    david_rocket Member

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    People drink and eat more during the weekend, so they can do more stupid things and getting seriously injured.
     
    #5 david_rocket, May 24, 2011
  6. Severe Rockets Fan

    Severe Rockets Fan Takin it one stage at a time...

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    This.
    Another OP with an idiotic thread title.
     
    #6 Severe Rockets Fan, May 24, 2011
  7. TheRealist137

    TheRealist137 Member

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    op with misleading title in order to generate clicks
     
    #7 TheRealist137, May 24, 2011
  8. Dairy Ashford

    Dairy Ashford Member

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    OVerstated headline because online magazines are all about clicks, like the multi-page top-ten lists on Clusterstock or Daily Beast.
     
    #8 Dairy Ashford, May 24, 2011
  9. Thefabman

    Thefabman Member

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    i just did a study actually and concluded that if your human your 100% likely to die...at some point...probably
     
    #9 Thefabman, May 24, 2011
  10. Apps

    Apps Member

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    Stupid thread title.
     
    #10 Apps, May 24, 2011
  11. Two Sandwiches

    Two Sandwiches Member

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    People that come into the hospital during weekdays tend not to be as sick as people on the weekend. I say this as a generality. People who come in during the week tend to be more painseekers, transients, bums, and (those that actually are sick) the elderly. Most normal people want to avoid missing time at work, so they will hold out, and avoid, at all cost, going to the ER during the week. Thus, they're usually more sick on the weekend.

    Not to mention, like another poster said, vacation, travel, stupid accidents, etc. ALL increase on the weekend.

    So, yeah, I could see how this study that basically says that you're .4% more likely to die (a very low percentage chance...if you have a potentially life-threatening condition, which most people that come to the ER do not) if you come to the ER on a weekend. Totally legit.
     
    #11 Two Sandwiches, May 24, 2011
  12. BetterThanI

    BetterThanI Member

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    Correlation ≠ Causation
     
    #12 BetterThanI, May 24, 2011
  13. bobrek

    bobrek Politics belong in the D & D

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    I found a study that shows that folks who don't know the proper way to use "your" and "you're" are likely to die even quicker.
     
    #13 bobrek, May 24, 2011
  14. leroy

    leroy Member
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    I'd be willing to bet that the people that constantly point out to those that make that error die quicker.;)
     
    #14 leroy, May 24, 2011
  15. DarkHorse

    DarkHorse Member

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    Beat me to it.
     
    #15 DarkHorse, May 24, 2011
  16. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost Member
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    Might as well make this my signature.

    Weekends = more free time for people to hurt themselves, less staff at hospitals (it would seem)

    Pretty easy to figure this one out.
     
    #16 DonnyMost, May 24, 2011
  17. mylilpony

    mylilpony Member

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    why need a study? The good doctors golf on the weekends.
     
    #17 mylilpony, May 24, 2011
  18. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Member

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    I think most of you are chasing the wrong squirrel here. This part stood out to me:

    [rquoter]It is not the first study to uncover a 'weekend effect.' Previous research has shown such an effect for patients admitted after a heart attack, a blood clot in a lung, a ruptured abdominal artery and all kinds of strokes.[/rquoter]

    If there's a weekend effect on heart-attacks, I don't think you can attribute that to patient behavior. You might have more heart attacks on the weekend, but I don't see why the lethality after being admitted to the hospital should be higher given the patient's weekend activity. I think mylilpony is probably right.

    The experienced doctors work during the week, and the young doctors have to take the crappiest hours.
     
    #18 JuanValdez, May 24, 2011
  19. CrazyDave

    CrazyDave Member

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    Riiiight, and if you're on the road after 2am you're more likely to suddenly become drunk.
     
    #19 CrazyDave, May 24, 2011
    1 person likes this.
  20. DreamRoxCoogFan

    DreamRoxCoogFan Member

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    terrible study design. sampling bias galore.
     
    #20 DreamRoxCoogFan, May 24, 2011
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