Doctors In Training Are Working Too Many Hours
Recommendations put forth by the Institute of Medicine suggest that doctors in training are working too many hours a week, a fact that is putting patients’ lives at risk.
Only 5 years ago, recommendations were put into practice, ones that said that medical residents could only work 80 hours a week, but this still appears to be too high.
New recommendations state that any resident working 30 hours straight is entitled to an uninterupted 5-hour sleep after 16 hours.
Doctors who work long hours are at risk of developing sleep deprivation, a condition that can clowd the brain, leading to impaired judgement.
Other recommendations made by the IOM include: requiring experienced doctors to keep a closer eye on doctors in training, increase days off per month that a doctor in training is entitled too, and working to better handle the overlap of schedules.