Balancing quality of care and resource utilisation in acute care hospitals

[...]much of what we know about structures comes from observational studies. 10 An analysis from a large cohort of inpatients in acute care hospitals in the UK suggests that outcomes after cardiac arrest are better during daytime working hours compared with night-time and weekends. 11 This is important information that policy makers may use to shape future healthcare delivery by demanding increases in out-of-hours staffing in an attempt to improve these outcomes. [...]this report adds to the existing literature that suggests worse outcomes during out-of-hours periods. 21 However, as often happens with observational studies, it remains unclear to what extent the relationship is causal.