A woman has shared the shocking reason why people should always schedule a surgery at the start of the week.

Paige Lennox, who was a registered nurse for 30 years and founded Canadian Health Advocates Inc., shared the video to her TikTokurging people to rethink when they schedule their operations.

In the clip, she claimed that people who opt to have procedures near a weekend or holiday have a higher chance of complications following it.

‘Your doctor wants to schedule your surgery for a Friday,’ she said. ‘It seems convenient, you can recover over the weekend.’

‘Don’t do it,’ she advised, blaming it on something she calls the ‘weekend effect.’

‘Studies have shown that patients who have surgery on a Friday have a higher risk of complications and even death,’ she said.

Lennox said this is because hospitals run on a skeleton crew over the weekend.

‘There are fewer experienced staff, fewer specialists available, and diagnostic services are limited,’ she explained.

Content creator Paige Lennox shared the video to her TikTok, urging people to rethink when they schedule their surgeries (Stock image)

‘If you have a complication on a Saturday, you might not get the immediate, expert care you need,’ she explained.

Instead, Lennox said to try to request a surgery at the start of the week.

‘This gives you the full weekday team to monitor you and your recovery in the crucial first 48 hours,’ she said.

‘It’s a crucial change that could save your life,’ she said.

Lennox’s comments section was filled with people agreeing with her advice.

‘Likewise, don’t schedule surgery for the day before a holiday,’ one person advised.

‘I did mine on a Tuesday and at 6am the first appointment of the day so I had the surgeon’s fresh rested mind and hands,’ wrote someone else.

‘As a registered nurse this is so accurate!!!!’ exclaimed another.

Lennox explained that hospitals run on a skeleton crew over the weekend and health issues may not be picked up (stock image)

A fourth said: ‘I absolutely agree. Weekends are dead times in the hospital. Good advice.’

In March, JAMA published a study that found that patients treated before the weekend are at increased risk of complications.

The study, carried out in Ontario, Canada, analyzed adults undergoing one of 25 common surgical procedures between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2019, with one year of follow-up.

The study compared the patients’ dates of surgery, which were either the day before the weekend (usually Friday or the day before a long weekend) or the day after the weekend (usually Monday or the day immediately after a long weekend).

They found that patients who underwent surgery immediately preceding the weekend had a significantly increased risk of complications, readmissions, and mortality compared with those treated after the weekend.