Long hours 'impair doctors' skills'
00:14am 7th September 2005
Long hours and overnight shifts worked by young doctors may leave them
functioning as poorly as if they had downed a few drinks, according to
a new study.
Thirty four trainee doctors in America showed similar impairments in
vigilance, attention and driving skills after being on overnight duties
and working a month of 90-hour weeks, compared with when they had
consumed three to four alcoholic drinks after a month of 44-hour weeks
with no overnight duties.
The findings were published in this week's issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association.
Most subjects were tested before new national requirements in America
limited their work hours to an average 80-hour week.
J Todd Arnedt, a sleep psychologist who is a clinical assistant
professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Michigan
Medical School, Ann Arbor, said: "This adds to the growing evidence
that sleep deprivation among medical residents (trainee doctors)
significantly impairs their ability to perform, although it is
important to note that we did not assess performance on specific
medical tasks.
"Our study, like others before it, does raise concerns about the
performance of sleep deprived physicians-in-training and suggests that
strategies aimed at reducing fatigue-related impairments are likely
necessary."
The doctors were tested four times, in two separate sessions.
Two of the tests were done after they had worked a month of light duty
without overnight shifts. The tests were done before and after they had
consumed three to four alcoholic drinks.
In the second session, they were tested on the day after an overnight
shift that came at the end of a month of 90-hour work weeks that
included overnight work every fourth or fifth night. During this
session, they were tested before and after drinking a non-alcoholic
placebo beverage.
Skills on a driving simulator deteriorated in doctors who were tested
after an overnight shift in the hospital and at the end of a month of
heavy night work.
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This should be filed in the no-[censored]-sherlock file. Allopaths are so
damned observant.
TC