Patients Admitted on Weekends More Likely to Fall, Experience Hospital-Acquired Conditions

Patients admitted to U.S. hospitals on weekends are 20% more likely than those admitted on weekdays to experience hospital-acquired conditions, including falls and certain infections, according to a study posted online April 15, 2015, by BMJ. The study examined the records of more than 351 million patients admitted to hospitals from 2002 to 2010, finding that hospital-acquired conditions occurred in 4.1% of those admitted on weekends, compared with 3.7% among those admitted during weekdays; adjusting for patient comorbidities and other hospital factors, the researchers calculated that the probability of having one or more hospital-acquired conditions increased 20% among weekend admissions. Of the 11 hospital-acquired conditions measured by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services over that time, falls were by far the most frequent, with more than 1.2 million reported incidents each year and representing more than 88% of the total reported events.