Monday syndrome: Using statistical and mathematical models to finetune services in an emergency department

Abstract

Objective: To determine the accident and emergency department (A&E) attendance pattern. Design: A retrospective study was carried out to examine the attendance pattern on a day-of-the-week basis. Attendance data were collected from 1st April to 30th June 2010 and arranged in the days of the week for analysis. Setting: A&E of a regional hospital. Main outcome measures: Mean attendance with 95% confidence interval for different days of the week. Result: Monday was shown to have 12.2% higher attendance than non- Mondays (95% CI=8.4%, 16.0%). Conclusion: Since Monday has the highest attendance, it is necessary to take measures to reduce the predictable workload on Monday to ease overcrowding and reduce waiting time to deal with the anticipated attendance.