The Worst Time to Go to the Hospital or Doctor

Not that you can help having an emergency, but these stats on the best and worst time to see a doctor or go to the hospital are quite interesting.

Doctor's offices and hospitals have their best and worst times, too, and now several studies that have been compiled have some very interesting results on when NOT to go to the hospital or for testing...if you can help it.

It used to be that you wouldn't want to get hospitalized in July, when that year's graduating medical students begin working as residents. Researchers at Johns Hopkins found a higher rate of complications during July surgeries, but other studies have since found that surgical outcomes are no worse in July than in any other month, perhaps due to increased vigilance by senior doctors.

Other findings:

-- Do avoid holidays. People admitted to the hospital on an emergency basis on public holidays are 48 percent more likely to suffer complications compared with patients admitted on non-holidays.

-- Watch the clock. With each hour that passes on a given day of performing colonoscopies, the average gastroenterologist is 4.6 percent less likely to detect a colon polyp.

-- With each passing hour, the likelihood of problems related to anesthesia increase from a low of 1 percent during surgeries starting at 9 am to a high of 4.2 percent for those starting at 4 pm. We all get tired as the day progresses.