The "July Effect" refers to the idea there may be an increase in medical errors in July when newly graduated medical students begin their residencies. In this retrospective chart review of podiatric surgery patients, researchers did not find any statistically significant difference in patient outcomes between surgeries performed during the first quarter of residency (July-September) and the last quarter (April-June). Results suggest robust resident training programs can limit errors that may otherwise occur during this time of transition.  

This article reports the results of a prospective pre-post interventional study undertaken to determine whether providing a simplified information card to patients (in addition to discharge summaries) upon discharge from Australian emergency departments would improve patient awareness of their diagnosis and follow-up requirements. Brief interviews conducted with 112 pre-intervention study participants and 117 who received the short discharge card, indicated statistically significant improvement (73.2% to 89.7%, p<0.001) in patient awareness with the short discharge card.