For the study, researchers evaluated surgical residents’ sleep and awake periods. Of 33 volunteer orthopedic surgical residents, 27 (82 percent) completed the study between April 1, 2010, and Nov. 1, 2011. In 2011, new Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requirements that limit medical resident duty hours went into effect. These rules, among other requirements, limit the shifts of first-year residents to 16 hours.
The researchers found the average amount of daily sleep for the residents was 5.3 hours and residents were functioning at less than 80 percent mental effectiveness due to fatigue for nearly half of their time awake. Residents were also functioning at less than 70 percent mental effectiveness due to fatigue nearly one-third of their time awake. Night rotations resulted in higher levels of fatigue than day-shift rotations. Based on these fatigue levels, researchers concluded residents had a 22 percent higher risk of causing a medical error than well-rested physicians, according to a Chicago Tribune report.
“Resident fatigue was prevalent, pervasive, and variable,” the authors concluded.
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