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Doctors who work less make more mistakes: study

From news reports

One would think getting enough sleep would be beneficial even for doctors who keep busy, stressful schedules, and reduce the number of errors or medical accidents.

However, it might just be the opposite, according to a report published by newspaper USA Today.

In part to minimize errors by “sleepy doctors,” the U.S. Medical Board cut the length of uninterrupted working hours for doctors in training from 30 hours to 16 in 2011.

However, the percentage of residents making mistakes rose from 15 to 20 percent, according to the latest studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education said the changes have had “unintended consequences.”

Shorter shifts for young doctors have many negative effects, said Sanjay Desai of Johns Hopkins Hospital. One negative impact is the “handoff risk,” or the risk of mistakes from frequent changes of doctors who should take of their patients for as long as possible. The shorter training period is another negative result, Desai said.

In addition to the increase in self-reported medical errors, 20 percent of fledgling doctors screened positive for depression. They seemed to be under added stress from attempting to complete a given amount of work within a shorter time.