Kellaway, Marissa

Mr. Wisner

World History

1st M/W

April 14, 2017

New Guideline Will Allow First-Year Doctors to Work 24-Hour Shifts

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/health/us-doctors-residents-24-hour-shifts.html?rre
f=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience

Key Vocabulary from the Article

o Medical resident- a physician who practices medicine under the supervision of an
attending physician
o Patient- a person recieving medical attention
o Deprived- suffering a lack of something
o Maximum- the most allowed

Summary of the Event:

A. A professional organization that sets work rules for graduates from medical school in
the U.S. is now allowing first-year doctors in training to work shifts lasting as long as 24
hours. The current limit is 16 hours, making the new limit 8 hours longer. This change is
being made to prevent confusion in patients when they suddenly have to have a change in
doctors when that doctors shift ends. Many believe this change will help improve patient
care significantly and help the doctors not to have their work and learning disrupted.
B. Director of health research at an advacy group called Public Citizen, Dr. Michael A.
Carome said, We know sleep-deprived people can have impaired motor skills and their
memory can deteriorate,. The 16 hour limit was put into place in 2011 in hopes that it
would prevent mistakes by first-year doctors. This limit has proven to not help, and it was
reported that patient care was disrupted due to these limits. Two randomized trials, one
with surgeons in training and another with specialists in internal medicine, were used to
study this controversial stubject. The results from the surgical residents proved that the
longer shifts had no apparent effects on patient care, while the other study is still
underway.
C. A meeting was held last year at around the time the results from the study were
published, and it was decided that the limit for first-year doctors seemed to need a
change. It was apparent to them that not only was patient care dirupted, but so was the
 doctors learning. Dr. Rowen K. Zetterman, co-chairman of the task force, said,
Everyone agreed that the 80-hour maximum was appropriate, but we heard from a large
number of organizations that 16 hours was not successful,. The doctors do not have to
work 24-hour shifts, but they can choose to stay if they feel like they need to. The weekly
limit of 80 hours will not be changed.

Opinion of the Event:

I think that this change is more bad than it is good. I assume that it is probably
very overwhelming and stressful to be a first-year doctor and I dont think it would be
helpful for them to be allowed to work so much on their first year. I also think that since
the medical field is so competitive, the doctors would feel pressured to stay the whole 24
hours, even though they dont have to. The only positive change I see with this change is
that the doctors would be able to stay with a patient that needed them, which would make
the patients more comfortable.

Relation of Event to a Historical Event:

o A historical event I can relate this to is the Industrial Revolution. This historical
event is obviously much more extreme and more significant, but the underlying
theme of being over-worked with the extended hours reminds me of how people
made mistakes (which were sometimes fatal) in the factories where they worked
because they were so tired. The clear differences between this event and the
Industrial Revolution is that the doctors will not be allowed to go over 80 hours a
week and will still be paid the normal amount, but during the Industrial
Revolution there were no limits and they were under-paid.

Relation to a subtheme:
I can relate this event to the theme of science and new technologies because it
involves a possible improvement in the medical field. The medical field is extremely
science-heavy and medical improvements can affect the world and the lives of others for
years to come. The involvement of research studies to help make the decision to longer
the maximum hours further enforces the scientific theme of this article.

Questions About the Event:

1. Will the longer shifts make patients more comfortable since they will be able to
stay with the doctor they know?
2. What kinds of mistakes can be caused from sleep-deprived doctors?
3. Would there be consequences for if a doctor makes a mistake from working for
longer than 16 hours?
4. Will the longer shifts help the doctors learn faster and improve?