The July Effect?

Reading prevention magazine this month there is a story about "The July Effect".

Apparently there is a new study showing there is a 10% increase in teaching hospital deaths due to medical errors. AND the trend continues through until the Fall just not as high.

So What's the reason? Your Doctor is thinking about their vacation? NO! It's not a case of the Summer Brain...Apparently, July is the month when all of the med school graduates start work as interns and tend to make more mistakes. Not just in the Operating Room but in prescribing meds and effective follow up.

The numbers are staggering....almost 1 million people a year die due to a medical shall we say "Mishap"? That works out to a completely filled 747 crashing and killing everyone on board every other day.

Moral of this story?? Don't schedule elective surgery or any other unnecessary medical procedure at a teaching hospital in the summer months.

This doesn't mean your newbie DR. won't end up being amazing or even being the one who eventually cures cancer, it just means everyone makes mistakes and please try not to be one of them!