A new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine finds that the springtime transition to Daylight Savings Time may result in an increase in medical errors made by healthcare orders. The study was published in August 2020 by a group of authors including Branu Prakash Kolla of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Mayo Clinic; Brandon J. Coombes of the Division of Bioinformatics at the Mayo Clinic; Timothy I. Morgenthaler of the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic; and Meghna P. Mansukhani of the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic.
According to the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the observational study’s objective was to examine “the change in reported patient safety-related incidents (SRIs), in the week following the transition into and out of DST over a period of 8 years.” It specifically observed incidents at “A US-based large healthcare organization” with locations in various states around the country. It measured “Voluntarily reported SRIs that occurred 7 days prior to and following the spring and fall time changes for years 2010–2017,” and separately identified incidents that were likely to have resulted from human error. Changes in SRI numbers “from the week before and after the time change (either spring or fall) were modeled using a negative binomial mixed model with a random effect to correct for non-independent observations in consecutive weeks.” Continue reading