Jacksonville Night Shift Medical Errors Attorneys

Medical Errors During Night Shift

Delivering medical care around-the-clock is obviously a need because people don't get sick on schedule. But hospitals have been found to be more dangerous at night and on the weekend, and not just because you have to wait longer for a doctor a nurse. There is a quantifiable rise in patient complications and medical errors in Florida, resulting in death and injury during those time periods.

A HealthGrades survey in 2007 found 248,000 patient deaths in a three-year period were preventable mistakes that multiplied during the night shift when personnel were tired and medical errors caused by fatigue are more prevalent.

A February 2008 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study found weekend and night patients were more likely to die than patients on the day shift. For example, a "Code Blue" in a hospital means a heart has stopped beating. Personnel will rush to the bedside with a crash cart. This study compared outcomes following the cardiac arrests of more than 86,000 adult hospital patients at 507 hospitals in a seven-year period. Survival rates were compared by time of day and day of the week. Cardiac arrest patients between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. had a 15% survival rate compared to a 20% survival rate for a day shift cardiac arrest patient. The weekday survival rate was better than the weekend survival rate.

Babies born at night have been found to have a higher mortality rate. Pediatric patients admitted at night more likely to die within two days.

Whether at night or on the weekend, deaths, injuries, and complications from a medical error can expose the hospital to a Florida medical malpractice lawsuit.

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine in May 2008 concluded that a night shift should be no different from a day shift in terms of standards, staffing and outcomes. Management needs to provide supervision and oversight at night and on weekends to let workers know they take patient care seriously around the clock.

As a result, some hospitals hired more doctors to work the night shift. They are called nocturnists because they work only on the night shift. Today about 1,500 hospitals employ a nocturnist or share one with another hospital.

Make sure you ask the hospital about staffing at night and whether an attending physician is on staff 24-hours a day. A Florida law allows patients to access the records of a health care provider to determine how many mistakes or "adverse medical incidents" the doctor has been involved with. You can also access the track record of a particular hospital in performing the type of procedure you are planning. Always keep a copy of your medical history and medications with you in case your caregivers are not familiar with you or you cannot communicate.

Contact a Jacksonville medical error lawyer at Farah & Farah if you have experienced an injury due to what you believe to be a lower standard of care in a hospital during the night or weekend shifts. Our investigation needs to take place immediately so we can obtain the compensation you deserve.