Study of Mortality Pattern Among Critically Ill Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital.

The study intends to ascertain whether higher patient mortality occurs during weekends or nighttime or during a specific time of day. Time of death of all deceased in ICUs of a teaching hospital during study period (n = 844) was noted and analyzed. It was found that compared to daytime working hours, significantly higher mortality is not observed during Off Duty Hours (i.e. Evening/Night/Weekends/Holidays) and has no relationship with any particular time of the day. Patient deaths over time were found to conform to Poisson distribution. ICU deaths occur randomly and independently with no effect of nighttime/weekend or particular time of day.