Hospitals and other health care centers in New York perpetually revamp
their practices and protocols in efforts to increase patient safety, but
recent studies that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association
indicate that shorter medical resident shifts lead to increased errors.
The studies show that a workplace regulation that was implemented to limit
the hours doctors in training work might need to be re-evaluated. The
regulation was put into place to increase the patients' safety as
well as the trainees' well-being. However, studies show that the ideal
results are not achieved by the regulation.
Doctors in training were ideally supposed to obtain more sleep, and residents'
depression rates were predicted to lower, resulting in more effective
care for patients as a result of the regulation. However, researchers
are concerned that the regulation resulted in a 15 to 20 percent increase in
medical errors that harmed patients as opposed to those doctors in training who worked
longer shifts. The reports showed that the doctors in training failed
to get more sleep and that 20 percent of patients still tested positive
for depression.
The federal regulations that mandate most workplace hours do not apply
to medical residency programs. Instead, the Accreditation Council for
Graduate Medical Education oversees the hours for residency training programs.
The unintended consequences of the shorter shifts hours are under scrutiny
and increase the number of handoff risks that patients face.
Balancing shift times with patient safety can be a complex science, but
it is of the utmost importance to doctors, patients and facilities alike.
Increased medical errors lead to increased medical malpractice claims,
and the consequences of medical malpractice can be severe, resulting in
patient injury or death. New York residents and their families who incur
these hardships may be able to seek compensation in civil lawsuit.
Source: USA Today, "Studies: Residents make more errors on shorter shifts," Janice Lloyd, March 25, 2013
