Digitaldoc's Residency Diary

There are tons of articles talking about reducing medical errors by giving residents more sleep time on one hand and the extra 1.6 Billion dollars cost of doing that, on the other.


So what exactly are the new Resident duty hours recommendations?


A Brief Summary:

1. 4 Week average work hours of not more that 80 hours a week
2. No More than 16 hours continuous work at any time, unless a 5-hour Pager-free break between 10pm and 8am. Sleep time included in the 80-hours rule
3. No New admissions after 16 continous hours
4. 30 Hour Call schedules not more than every 3rd Night
5. Night Float / Night Shits must have 2 days off after every 4th consecutive shuift
6. Atleast one day off per week, no averaging

Have I made medical errors when I haven't got enough sleep ? Of course I did and thankfully they have only been minor, but give me jitters anyways about the potential to be fatal. Why did these errors occur ? Coz When I was dizzy with sleeplessness after a bad call night, thinking of sleep interfered with concentration & clinical judgment. And when hospitals talk of financial losses incurred by having to hire more and pay more for residents - it also means that the whole cost + pricing system in teaching hospitals was built around exploiting the residents willingness to suck up the work hours to get their degrees...