Background: Sleep disruptions for routine care, such as vital sign assessments, are common during hospitalization and are associated with negative health outcomes and patient satisfaction. While higher risk patients may benefit from increased monitoring at night, the tradeoff is less obvious for lower risk patients. We hypothesized that assigning overnight vital sign assessment based on [...]

Background: Sleep disruptions for routine care, such as vital sign assessments, are common during hospitalization and are associated with negative health outcomes and patient satisfaction. While higher risk patients may benefit from increased monitoring at night, the tradeoff is less obvious for lower risk patients. We hypothesized that assigning overnight vital sign assessment based on [...]

Background: There is evidence that physicians consider a variety of “non-medical” factors (e.g. lack of social support, barriers to access) in hospital admission decision-making out of concern for patient safety, and that patients are hospitalized even in the absence of a level of medical acuity warranting admission. The rationale underlying this decision may overvalue the [...]