After limits on residency work hours, did doctors perform worse? New study says no
Physicians trained after residency hours were limited to 80 hours per week performed as well on quality measures as doctors with more hours of training.
Physician training has long been notorious for marathon shifts, sleepless nights on call, and holidays worked. But that began to change in 2003, when the medical profession placed restrictions on work hours during residency. However, experts wondered, can we train residents in fewer hours and still make good doctors?
A new study in the BMJ says yes. The researchers, led by Dr. Anupam Jena, a professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School, looked at the
