Summer has a dirty little Secret…

If you get injured and wander into the hospital in the summer months you are more likely to end up with a bad result. Believe it or not, statistically, you are even more likely to die.

Your chances of dying in a hospital are highest in July. A study published in 2010 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine exposed one of medicine’s dirty little secrets. All medical internships, surgery residencies, and fellowships begin on July 1st every year. Because of this, July is simply the riskiest month have foot surgery or any other surgical procedure associated with hospitalization.

This is not complicated. After eight years of sitting in college classrooms and medical school lecture halls, the wet-behind-the-ears medical intern is just itching to try out all of those skills he or she has read about. The problem is, they have a lot of learning left to do.

You don’t really want to be the first person when a new foot doctor tries to make a surgical incision on your foot. You also don’t want that new, nervous, over-worked and sleep deprived intern fumbling through a Pharmacy handbook while writing your medication orders at 4:00 a.m. You are far more likely to have a bad outcome in July for several reasons.

In this episode, I will discuss the 5 tips to avoid surgery complications common in July.