cranquis replied to your post: Do you think it is a good idea or bad idea to limit the number of hours a resident can be in the hospital each week?
Main goal of restricted work-hours was increased PATIENT safety, by ensuring more sleep for residents. Stats don’t seem to show that patient safety has gone up since restrictions implemented in US, possibly WORSE safety outcomes. :(
Talk about a sobering reality check. :( I wonder if we’ll ever figure something out to prevent harm to patients AND their physicians? And I wonder why safety outcomes have worsened; is this a topic of investigation right now?
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premedkev said:
Research shows that increased handoffs from shifts means that there are more gaps in knowledge between two physicians dealing with a patient. Things like tests that were ordered but not recovered or conditions that they forgot to mention.
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baffledinbrooklyn said:
Coming from a program that used to do 24 hour call and just switched to night float, I can tell you that our residents work longer hours on a weekly basis with night float in place than they did when we did 24 hour call.
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cranquis likes this
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cranquis said:
One theory mentioned in the studies has been: shorter hours = more residents involved/patient’s case = more chance for miscommunication and error = poorer patient outcomes. Definitely being investigated further.
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md-admissions posted this
