Associations between stroke mortality and weekend working by stroke specialist physicians and registered nurses: prospective multicentre cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Observational studies have reported higher mortality for patients admitted on weekends. It is not known whether this "weekend effect" is modified by clinical staffing levels on weekends. We aimed to test the hypotheses that rounds by stroke specialist physicians 7 d per week and the ratio of registered nurses to beds on weekends are associated with mortality after stroke.

Methods and findings

We conducted a prospective cohort study of 103 stroke units (SUs) in England. Data of 56,666 patients with stroke admitted between 1 June 2011 and 1 December 2012 were extracted from a national register of stroke care in England. SU characteristics and staffing levels were derived from cross-sectional survey. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios

SUBMITTER: Bray BD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4138029 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature