There exists an apocryphal adage to avoid going to hospital in July (or August in the UK), attributing a temporal increase in risk due to inexperienced house staff [1]. This phenomenon has been termed the “July phenomenon”, "July effect", or hyperbolically “The Killing Season”. A systematic review of 39 studies performed in 2011 indicated increased mortality and decreased efficiency at time of changeover [2]. A UK study of 300,000 admissions found an 8 % higher mortality for patients admitted on the first Wednesday in August compared with the prior Wednesday [1].
