ArticleAnnals of medicine and surgery (2012)2020
The weekend effect - How can it be mitigated? Introduction of a consultant-delivered emergency general surgical service.
Article in Annals of medicine and surgery (2012), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Weekend Effect and Mortality After Emergency Laparotomy: A Retrospective Cohort Study With Complimentary Meta-Analysis.ANZ journal of surgery · 2025Pooled it
- Evaluating the weekend effect on mortality following major emergency general surgeries at a teaching hospital: a 7-year retrospective cohort study.BMC surgery · 2026Article
- Postoperative morbidity following surgery for mechanical adhesive small bowel obstruction: prevalence, risk factors and clinical outcomes.BMC surgery · 2026Article
- Weekend effect on in-hospital outcomes of transcatheter aortic valve replacement: insights from a propensity-matched national analysis.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2025Article
- Association between weekend admission and in-hospital mortality for patients with ischemic heart disease upon surgery treatment.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2024Article
- Medicolegal claims in general surgery: a 10-year retrospective review of claims against the NHS in England.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2023Article
- Impact of shift work on surgical outcomes at different times in patients with acute type A aortic dissection: A retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2022Article
- Mortality risk from acute aortic dissection among hospital admissions during weekends and holiday season.PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPoorer patient outcomes for emergency general surgery have been observed in patients admitted to hospital over the weekend. This paper reports the outcomes of a Consultant-delivered service model for weekend admissions and its impact for patients undergoing emergency laparotomy.
methodsOperative data was analysed from a prospectively collected database over 5-years. Primary outcome measures were 30-day all-cause mortality and Clavien-Dindo class ≥2 morbidity. Secondary outcomes included time from admission to diagnostic imaging and time to surgery, post-operative length of stay and requirement for Intensive Care Unit admission.
results263 patients underwent an emergency laparotomy. Overall 30-day mortality was 4.6% and all-cause morbidity was 55.9%. The most common indications for laparotomy were mechanical small bowel obstruction (32.7%) and hollow viscus perforation (30.4%) of the 263 emergency laparotomies, 92 patients in the cohort were weekend admissions (Saturday or Sunday). There was no significant difference amongst patients admitted during the weekend in ASA grade, age, gender, or proportion of patients receiving a pre-operative computed tomography scan, when compared to those during the week. Compared to weekdays, weekend admission was not associated with a significant difference in mortality (5.3% and 3.3%, respectively p = 0.458), all-cause morbidity (p = 0.509), post-operative length of stay (p = 0.681), or Intensive Care Unit admission (p = 0.761).
conclusionA Consultant Surgeon delivered emergency service can avoid the poor patient outcomes associated with weekend admissions and the 'weekend effect'.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.