Preventing physician quality of life from impinging on patient quality of care: Weakening the weekend effect

Abstract

Imprecise or delayed care can reflect many factors, including straightforward difficulties in physician judgment and false negative tests. However, the movement toward decreasing physician work hours also leads to delays in care caused by inadequate staffing or inadequate communication between staffing, which must be addressed if quality of care is to remain high. The demonstration of delays in the management of anastomotic leaks over weekends or in association with false positive radiologic studies exemplifies this challenge.