February 21, 2008–ScienceDaily–Patients who have an in-hospital cardiac arrest at night or on the weekend have a substantially lower rate of survival to discharge than hospitalized patients who experience a cardiac arrest during day/evening times on weekdays, according to a new study.

The detection and treatment of cardiac arrests may be less effective at night because of patient, hospital, staffing and response factors. If in-hospital cardiac arrests are more common or survival is worse on nights and weekends, this information could have important implications for hospital staffing, training, care delivery processes and equipment decisions, according to background information in the article.