What care can be delivered in 5 minutes that can't be delivered by not seeing someone?
This is a good question, and if you ask me, the answer is that on inpatient units, patients are not seen over the weekend because they need to be seen, but because insurance, or hospital policy, or state law dictates that they be seen.
Inpatients can only have so many medication changes in the course of the usual 5-7 day (if not shorter) admission. The admission criteria being what they are, most are too acutely ill or intoxicated to warrant lengthy psychotherapy sessions. The job of a weekend rounder is not really to provide treatment, but to satisfy administrative requirements, make sure no one dies or elopes, and put out fires.
I've moonlighted at numerous hospitals now, and they all have different policies about weekend discharges. Some prohibit them almost entirely. This can also vary depending on state civil commitment law. But if you're not doing discharges, it frees up time. I've only worked one place that didn't take weekend admissions, and that was a long-term state hospital. Admissions also slow things down.
I can literally get a follow up interview done in 1 minute if a case is straightforward. Most aren't that simple or fast, but my point is, weekend rounding is more about checking things off on a a list than it is about spending time with individual patients.
If people find that objectionable, fine, that's their right, but please don't attack me or make assumptions about my ethics or practice. I am only a messenger, describing what is the reality of weekend rounding in many hospitals. You probably won't learn this in residency either, because program and unit directors have a vested interest in having residents believe that every single minute they spend in a hospital contributes significantly to the well being and health of patients. Actually, a lot of it is just dictated by insurance companies.
