Something that would seem to be obvious when analyzed, but maybe worth a thought right now, especially as we are into the holidays.
The article linked below reports the findings of a study done in 2018 in Canadian hospitals. It suggests that there actually is something to what this thread's title claims, that patient discharges from hospitals around Christmas time do indeed carry a greater risk of readmissions and deaths.
From the article:
" ... patients discharged during the Christmas season were more likely to die or to be readmitted during the following 30 days compared to patients discharged in late November or late January."
"Compared to patients discharged at other times, those discharged during the holidays had a higher risk of death or readmission to the hospital within the next seven, 14 and 30 days, with the greatest risk - 16 percent higher - within the first seven days."
"Moreover, patients discharged during the holidays were 39 percent less likely than those sent home at other times to have a follow-up appointment within seven days, which was possibly due to understaffing or patients themselves wanting to wait until the holidays were over."
"The findings might not just be a result of hospital practices and staffing ... people may have been discharged earlier than they would be otherwise so they could be home for the holidays ... so they could have been discharged both quicker and sicker, which could have led to their being readmitted or dying at a higher rate.”And what can patients do to avoid this problem?
“The main thing is to inquire about whether a follow-up visit is recommended . . . and if so, how soon it should occur ... we did see a big drop off in follow-up visits during this period of time and that could explain why the patients do worse.”But I'm certain that all of us here would be sure to confirm before discharge any need for follow-up visits for ourselves, regardless of the time of year it is.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-holidays-hospital-discharge-idinkbn1oa255