A new study by Professors Sammy Zahran, Dave Mushinski, and Cher Li has found that the quantity of delivery complications in hospitals are substantially higher during nights, weekends and holidays, and in teaching hospitals. The study, “Clinical capital and the risk of maternal labor and delivery complications: Hospital scheduling, timing and cohort turnover effects,” was published in Risk Analysis: An International Journal. They analyzed more than 2 million cases from 2005 to 2010, using detailed data obtained from the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The results of the study suggest that:

• The odds of a mother experiencing a delivery complication are 21.3 percent higher during the night shift, and the odds of a delivery complication increase 1.8 percent with every hour worked within a shift.
• A mother delivering an infant on a weekend is 8.6 percent more likely to encounter a complication than a mother delivering on a weekday.
• Births occurring on holidays are particularly susceptible to labor or delivery complications, with holiday births being 29 percent more likely to have a complication.

 

Read the SOURCE story here.

This story was picked up by the New York Times March 4th: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/well/family/hospital-pregnancy-childbirth-delivery-complications.html