AccScience Publishing / BH / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/BH025300041
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Impact of July resident turnover on inpatient outcomes in patients with congestive heart failure and concomitant sepsis: Analysis of the national inpatient sample

Oghenetejiri Gbegbaje1 Gabriel Alugba1 Haris Muhammad2 Favour Nelson3 Chidubem Ezenna4 Aparna Iyer1 Vicky Kumar5* Dipal R. Patel1 Sidni Fullerton1
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1 Department of Internal Medicine, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood, New Jersey, United States
2 Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, United States
3 Department of Internal Medicine, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pennsylvania, United States
4 Department of Internal Medicine, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
5 Department of Critical Care, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Brain & Heart, 025300041 https://doi.org/10.36922/BH025300041
Received: 25 July 2025 | Revised: 30 November 2025 | Accepted: 11 December 2025 | Published online: 12 January 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

The notion of a “July effect,” suggesting that the influx of new residents in teaching hospitals every July (JU) may adversely affect patient care and outcomes, remains debatable. This study evaluated the impact of resident turnover in JU on patients admitted for congestive heart failure (CHF) and concomitant sepsis. This retrospective cohort study utilized data from the 2016 to 2020 National Inpatient Sample. Patients with CHF and concomitant sepsis hospitalized at teaching hospitals, as determined by International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes, were included. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate in-hospital mortality and secondary outcomes after adjustment for confounders, including cardiac arrest (CA), cardiogenic shock, non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction, respiratory failure (RF), use of cardiac and respiratory devices, and healthcare resource utilization metrics such as length of stay (LOS) and total hospitalization charges (TOTCHG). Patients were classified according to the month of admission as JU or other months (OM) to investigate the potential impact of the “July effect” on patient outcomes. The study included 281,874 patients, of which 8% were in the JU group and 92% in the OM group. The mean age was 71 ± 13 years, with a slight male predominance (52% vs 48%), and most patients were White (70%). A total of 34,974 in-hospital deaths occurred, with no significant difference between the JU and OM groups (odds ratio [OR] = 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.85–1.06; p=0.329). Similarly, no significant differences were observed in CA (OR = 0.88; 95% CI = 0.70–1.11; p=0.282), RF (OR = 0.98; 95% CI = 0.90–1.06; p=0.597), ventilator use (OR = 0.99; 95% CI = 0.77–1.25; p=0.879), LOS (11.3 vs. 11.3), and TOTCHG (USD 136,377 vs. USD 136,181). However, lower rates of acute kidney injury were observed in the JU group compared with the OM group (OR 0.90; 95% CI, 0.84–0.98, p=0.011). This study demonstrates that the “July effect” does not significantly influence in-hospital outcomes in patients with CHF and concomitant sepsis. While mortality and major clinical outcomes were comparable across groups, lower rates of acute kidney injury were observed in patients admitted in JU. Further research is needed to understand the complex interplay between healthcare resident turnover and patient outcomes.

Keywords
Congestive heart failure
Concomitant sepsis
July effect
July phenomenon
Inpatient outcomes
National inpatient sample
International classification of diseases 10th revision codes
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Brain & Heart, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4139 Published by AccScience Publishing