The influx of new residents and fellows to teaching hospitals in the month of July appears to have a negligible effect on spinal surgery outcomes. A study of hospitalizations throughout the United States found that patients admitted in July had a similar likelihood of in-hospital mortality, reactions to implanted devices or instrumentation, and postoperative wound dehiscence as patients admitted in other months.
Abstract: Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, January 26, 2013 (online).
