Impact of weekend admission and changes in treating team on patient flow and outcomes in adults admitted to hospital with community-acquired pneumonia

Abstract

Background: The effect of workflow factors, such as timing of admission and changes in treating team, on patient outcomes remains inconclusive. Aims: To investigate the impact of weekend admission and changes in treating team on four pre-defined outcomes in patients admitted to hospital with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods: We performed an observational cohort study by utilising prospective longitudinal data collected during the IMPROVE-GAP trial, a stepped-wedge randomised study investigating an evidence-based bundle of care in the management of CAP. We assessed the effect of two exposure variables, day of admission and change of treating team, on four pre-specified outcomes: (i) length of stay; (ii) time to clinical stability; (iii) readmission within 30 days; and (iv) mortality at 30 days. Our analysis was restricted to patients with a primary diagnosis of CAP and employed multivariable Cox regression and logistic regression to adjust for potential measured confounders. Results: Of 753 participants, 224 (29.7%) were admitted on the weekend and 71 (9.4%) changed treating team during admission. Weekend admissions had significantly longer hospital stays than weekday admissions (hazard ratio (95% confidence interval; P-value) 0.82 (0.70–0.98; 0.03)) and took longer to reach clinical stability (0.80 (0.68–0.95; 0.01)). Change of treating team doubled the odds of readmission at 30 days (odds ratio 1.95 (1.08–3.58; 0.03)). Conclusions: These results suggest workflow factors can negatively impact both health service and patient outcomes. Systems interventions aimed at improving out of hours service and reducing changes in treating team should be considered.