In a departure from a decades-long tradition, several New York hospitals are allowing elective surgery schedules to spill over into the night and even Saturdays, the Wall Street Journal reports. It's one way to accommodate the pent-up demand of an aging population. Saturday operations have the added benefit of being a way to keep your staff fresh, some physicians say.
New York University Langone Medical Center this month will begin to offer elective joint-replacement surgery one Saturday a month. Beth Israel Hospital plans in the next month to add surgery hours, ending as late as 8 p.m. weekdays, and to operate on Saturdays, according to Chairman of Surgery Martin Karpeh.
"Hospitals are designed to run 24/7," Joseph Zuckerman, chairman of NYU Langone's orthopedic-surgery division, told the Journal. "Rather than squeeze more cases into a day, it's better for everybody if we do surgery on a Saturday."
After New York Downtown Hospital hired dozens of doctors formerly affiliated with the now-closed St. Vincent's Hospital, the number of surgeries in May 2010 skyrocketed by 21 percent over May 2009. Not only do elective surgeries extend late into the night, according to Eli Bryk, chairman of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, New York Downtown will add an OR on Saturdays this summer and two more come fall.
One can only hope all those hospitals extending operating room hours are adequately staffed for patient care after-hours. It's not for nothing that the night shift is known as the the graveyard shift. Patients tend to suffer higher rates of death, complications and medical errors when treated during thinly-staffed off hours.
To learn more:
- read the Wall Street Journal article (available to WSJ subscribers only)
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