1st-year residents and preventable medical errors

A study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health revealed there is a 300 percent rise in the chances of first-year residents making preventable adverse events when they work five extended shifts (24 hrs or more) in one month's time. From the press release:

"Laura K. Barger, Ph.D., a research associate in medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and her colleagues analyzed the results of a national, Web-based survey in which 2,737 interns completed 17,003 monthly reports. Researchers assessed the association between the number of extended-duration shifts worked in the month and the reporting of significant medical errors, preventable adverse events, and attentional failures.

The findings are significant because interns routinely work extended shifts in teaching hospitals. Guidelines for graduate medical education in the United States still allow up to nine "marathon" shifts (30 hours at a stretch) per month, even though the total number of hours worked is capped. This study shows that the long shifts worked by interns are bad for patient safety, as they are more likely to cause harm that would not otherwise happen."