Although resident duty hour restrictions were intended to improve patient safety and resident education, a recent study in Annals of Surgery finds this may not be the result.
Researchers performed a meta-analysis on studies of the impact of RDH restrictions on clinical and educational outcomes and found RDH restrictions did not lead to improvements in patient safety or clinical education overall. Rather, resident performance on certificate examinations appeared to decline in some specialties following RDH restrictions. Some studies indicated an increased risk of complications in high-acuity patients.
Sign up for our FREE E-Weekly for more coverage like this sent to your inbox!
However, studies did reveal improved resident well-being following an 80-hour per week RDH restriction, but there was little improvement following the 16-hour per day duty maximum implementation.
Researchers conclude RDH restrictions do not improve resident performance or education, and they suggest greater flexibility to balance resident well-being with adequate resident training is needed. However, "further erosion of training time should be considered with great caution," they wrote in the study.
More Articles on Clinical Quality:
Florida Hospitals Reduce Surgical Complications, Save $6.6M Through NSQIP
Patient Safety Tool: IHI Trigger Tool for Measuring Adverse Events
TAVR Has Lower Mortality Than Traditional Surgery