The Weekend Effect Threatens the Nation’s Health by Lindsey Archer

Businesses experience it nationwide. It contributes to the falling stock market prices, an increase in atmospheric carbon emissions, and poor dieting. The ‘weekend effect’ is a phenomenon that consumers are bound to experience after they clock out of work on Friday and begin their weekend. What they do not expect, though, is that it can be responsible for a decreased quality of care in hospitals across the United States.

Most Americans with Monday-Friday jobs tend to drastically alter their lifestyles once their weekends begin. Since they do not have to be at work, they have more free time to shop, try out new restaurants, and spend time with friends. As a result, they drive more, eat more, and play more. Not only does this trend promote poor eating habits and greater carbon emissions, but it also requires businesses to accommodate for the increased customer flow. In order to keep up with the lifestyles of these ‘weekenders’, certain businesses must make staffing changes according to the demand of their product or service. For instance, restaurants are typically in higher demand during the weekend; therefore, the manager of your local bistro will need more waiters, hosts, and bartenders to work longer shifts beginning on Friday nights. For most businesses, this is a positive trend.

But what happens when these consumers are not trying to purchase a cobb salad or a cheeseburger, but instead a service that determines their physical wellbeing? This is where the weekend effect poses a threat to those people who fall sick or get injured over the weekend. Just like at the local bistro, hospitals and other healthcare facilities have to make staffing changes over the weekend. This can be difficult for managers because employees prefer to stay at home with their families and not work during the weekend. Hospitals, urgent care centers, and other weekend healthcare providers become tremendously short-staffed.

This issue is even further exacerbated by the national nursing shortage. To make ends meet, managers resort to the outsourcing of nurses. Temporary work agencies exist to alleviate this problem; however, not without having its drawbacks. Workers provided via temporary work agencies are sometimes not adequately trained and tend to lack loyalty to the organization they serve. Consequently, the quality of patient care is in jeopardy. According to a study published by The American Journal of Medicine on the effects of weekend admission, patients admitted to hospitals on weekends experienced slightly higher risk-adjusted mortality rates than did patients admitted on weekdays.

So, if you feel yourself falling ill on Friday and your doctor’s office just closed for the weekend, think twice about going to the hospital for immediate care. I am not, by any means, advocating that if you break your leg on Saturday that maybe a weekend’s rest will help it heal. However, I am promoting that consumers use good judgment when considering immediate medical treatment. A runny nose is very different from a broken one. It is important to be aware of the ‘weekend effect’ and of its manifestations, without risking your own health.

http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(04)00247-5/fulltext

http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sb/July-2004/4_weekend.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16776-2004Jul26.html