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Thought Leader Session

Guidelines Session

Aging Adult Track

Additional Registration Fee

Research Snapshot Theater: Quality and Patient Safety, Adult and Pediatric II

Disrupted Time, Disrupted Care: DST Transitions and Medical Errors in Healthcare Settings

Sunday, March 22, 2026

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Central Time

Location: Connections Central - RST 10

Zaw H. Naing, MD (he/him/his)

Cooper University Hospital, New Jersey

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose.
NK

Nema Kothari, n/a

Student
Penn Charter

Disclosure information not submitted.
KT

Ken Travis, MS-ODL

Administrative Director, Performance Improvement and Analysis
Cooper University Hospital

Disclosure information not submitted.
SG

Suzanne Gould, MHA, BSN, RN

Quality Outcomes Manager
Cooper University Hospital

Disclosure information not submitted.
NP

Nitin Puri, MD

Division Chief of Critical Care Medicine
Cooper University Hospital

Disclosure information not submitted.
SP

Sharad Patel, MD

Disclosure information not submitted.

Introduction: Medical errors persist despite decades of individual-focused interventions. Research suggests many errors arise from cognitive-environmental interactions rather than personal failings. This study investigates how Daylight Saving Time (DST) transitions affect medical error rates using a natural experiment design.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study using Difference-in-Differences methodology, analyzing 7,933 medical error records from multiple healthcare facilities over six years (2019-2024). We compared error rates during the first two days following DST transitions to control periods (other Mondays and Tuesdays). Errors were categorized as medication, diagnostic, or surgical/procedural. We calculated Average Treatment Effects and conducted subgroup analyses by demographics.

Results: DST transitions caused a 17.5% increase in medical errors (95% CI: 5.2% to 29.8%, p=0.0056).

Conclusions: DST transitions are associated with a significant increase in medical errors, highlighting the impact of external temporal disruptions on clinical performance. These findings underscore the need to consider system-level and environmental factors—such as circadian misalignment—when developing strategies to improve patient safety.