Stay Away From the Hospital in July
Ever since the famous case where a young woman died allegedly because she lay on a stretcher unattended in July, experts have warned about the " July effect. " That's because, in July, newly graduated medical students begin their residencies, and errors go way up. According to a study done in 2010 of hospital errors in July from 1979 to 2006, medication errors shot up 10% at teaching hospitals in July, though it could not be confirmed whether that was simply because of new doctors entering the fray. It’s also when the senior trainees, the residents and fellows, graduate to supervisory, self-managed patient care roles. "In other words, it’s when everyone is most inexperienced ," Dr. Zachary F. Meisel and Dr. Jesse M. Pines write at Time Health & Family. Naturally, people worry that this inexperience leads to mistakes. Some of it is patient load, which may have contributed to the woman's death, with new doctors too overwhelmed to accurately diagnos