American journal of medical quality : the official journal of the American College of Medical Quality
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Increased emphasis on patient safety in hospitals worldwide has become a critical goal for health care facilities and providers over the past decade. Resident work hour restrictions, handwashing efforts, medication reconciliation, procedural pauses, and a variety of improved communication mechanisms among all providers have been instituted. ⋯ The concept was to develop a tool to maintain and improve patient safety in the operating rooms that would be both effective and practical. The authors report on their 8-year experience with this tool and review the literature concerning surgical checklists.
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The management of patients admitted during weekends may be compromised because the level of staffing in the hospital is often lower then. This study was conducted to assess what independent influence, if any, weekend admission might have on inhospital mortality. The authors analyzed the clinical data of 429,880 adults >14 years of age who were admitted to internal medicine wards in Spain after having presented to the hospitals' emergency departments. ⋯ Differences in mortality persisted after adjustment for age, sex, and coexisting disorders (OR = 1.071; 95% CI = 1.046-1.097). Analyses of deaths within 2 days after admission showed larger relative differences in mortality between weekend and weekday admissions (OR = 1.28; 95% CI = 1.22-1.33). For patients admitted to an internal medicine service via an acute care visit to the emergency room, admission on weekends is associated with higher mortality than admission during the week.