Avoid Surgery On Fridays
A new study shows an increase in complications on Fridays
Good morning beautiful readers,
I’m going to start searching for data or info that I deem as “survival guide” worthy. Information that could be useful to help us survive as fragile biological human beings based on studies and research.
Today is the first on that theme.
Survival Guide: Avoid Friday Surgeries
A new study finds Fridays are not the best days to get a procedure.
The study looked into “429 691 patients undergoing 25 common surgical procedures in Ontario, Canada, those who underwent surgery immediately before the weekend experienced a statistically significant increase in the composite outcome of death, complications, and readmissions at 30 days, 90 days, and 1 year compared with those treated after the weekend.”
The increase in issues is across fields with a slightly higher rate in elective surgeries for orthopedics and urology.
Why? Staffing potentially.
“Pre-weekend surgeries may be riskier because often patients that have a procedure done on Friday may have to stay over the weekend for post-operative care, and studies have shown that there is a significant decrease in physicians, nurses, and clinical staff over the weekend,” according to a study researcher.
So medical professionals, let’s mitigate the risk. Also, the researchers plan to look into this deeper.
But do not panic - the increase in complications isn’t huge. If your life depends on a surgery, better to get and mitigate risks on a Friday than wait two more days.
But if you get to schedule a procedure, aim for Monday or Tuesday because data shows an increase in success.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
“You did it again Taylor! You tapped into another important issue: discrimination in the work world for those with medical issues and disabilities. Thanks for exposing and expressing this problem, and presenting it so well.” Susan
Should I tell my employer? The risks of medical disclosure.
And a message for employers. When research shows a clear bias, disclosure for a massive population of workers is a slippery slope.
If you’re new here and wondering, “what happened to this lady?” read:
Welcome to my disease. What is atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) or Complement-Mediated Thrombotic Microangiopathy (CM-TMA)?
Hi, If you’re new here, I started writing a book six months ago when I was on dialysis. It’s intended to be both memoir and a practical tool to help folks who might be going through something similar or those caregivers and family supporting someone with a challenging diagnosis. I hope to include excerpts here as I write. NOTE: This is not intended to r…
I started writing this when I was on dialysis. It’s intended to be both memoir and a practical tool to help folks who might be going through something similar or those caregivers and family supporting someone with a challenging diagnosis. NOTE: This is not intended to replace actual medical guidance. Please consult your doctors on your individual challenges and situations. Please talk to your clinicians before adjusting any of your care protocols. Also names have been changed for most of my medical staff.
Thank you to CC Couchois, Roy Lenn, and Dr. Richard Burwick for your founding level donation.
That may be a new study, but not new facts.. I worked as a surgical scrub tech in the Navy and then in civilian life in the late 1960’s and it was a given that if you had a choice, you would never have surgery late in the week. The first few days after surgery are critical, and when it’s the weekend and your surgeon is off, the nursing staff is short handed, and even the lab may be without adequate staff, care will take longer, diagnosing a post surgical issue can be slower and perhaps less accurate…Tuesday or Wednesday would be my first choices..