title: The full moon and ED patient volumes: unearthing a myth.
abstract: To determine if there is any effect of the full moon on emergency department (ED) patient volume, ambulance runs, admissions, or admissions to a monitored unit, a retrospective analysis of the hospital electronic records of all patients seen in an ED during a 4-year period was conducted in an ED of a suburban community hospital. A full moon occurred 49 times during the study period. There were 150,999 patient visits to the ED during the study period, of which 34,649 patients arrived by ambulance. A total of 35,087 patients was admitted to the hospital and 11,278 patients were admitted to a monitored unit. No significant differences were found in total patient visits, ambulance runs, admissions to the hospital, or admissions to a monitored unit on days of the full moon. The occurrence of a full moon has no effect on ED patient volume, ambulance runs, admissions, or admissions to a monitored unit.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, MacNeal Hospital, Berwyn, IL 60402, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Adams
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016081:Moon; D009229:Mythology