For the "DUH!!" department....

Study: Long hospital shifts cause mistakes

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 12 (UPI) -- A Harvard Medical School study suggests sleep-deprived U.S. doctors working long shifts have an increased risk of making harmful or deadly medical mistakes.

The study was based on monthly surveys filled out by 2,737 first-year medical residents about their work schedule, sleep patterns and days off, USA Today reported Tuesday. The residents also reported on any medical mistakes they made on the job.

"Working for more than 24 hours is hazardous," said Charles Czeisler, a sleep researcher at the Harvard Medical School and one of the authors of the study.

Czeisler and his colleagues found that residents who worked five extra-long shifts in a single month had a 700 percent greater chance of making fatigue-related mistakes that harmed patients and a 300 percent greater chance of mistakes that resulted in a patient's death.

The researchers said about 100,000 medical residents in the country work extended shifts on a regular basis.

"These data suggest there are tens of thousands of preventable injuries to patients annually," he said.




UPI.com