Recent Blog Posts
Study on Long Hours for Medical Interns Highlights a Dangerous Factor for Medical Errors
While television is notorious for exaggerating reality, there is one thing the medical sitcoms have correct: medical interns work ridiculously long hours. Two unpublished studies that aim to examine how those long hours might affect work quality and safety have recently come under criticism. The concern is patient safety—as it should be—but the studies have been permitted to move forward. And that has a lot of medical professionals worried that medical errors relating to sleep deprivation will increase.
Doctors That Never Sleep
In one study, Northwestern University has allegedly assigned hundreds of first-year residents to work shifts of up to 28 consecutive hours. They will be working in hospitals across the country. The Institute of Medicine suggests they work no longer than 16 consecutive hours. However, current rules do allow most residents to work 28-hour shifts routinely. Some residents have reported working 30, with only short naps to tide them over until their shift ends.
