NEXT STUDY: DRINKING BEER CAUSES URINARY FREQUENCY
CAMBRIDGE - In their continuing efforts to prove the obvious, researchers from Harvard Medical School reported in this week’s New England Journal that interns working extended shifts were more likely to get into traffic accidents than those who worked shifts less than 24 hours.
After boldly hypothesizing that zero sleep makes interns tired, they jumped to the risky conclusion that overworked, and severely fatigued housestaff also drive more erratically. The null hypothesis was that interns who stayed up all night were way better drivers. Putting their reputations as scientists on the line, they questioned more than 2,700 interns.
The monthly surveys collected from PGY-1’s around the country from April 2002 through May 2003 demonstrated that:
1) More than two-thirds of the drowsy doctors drove home from work.
2) The data, including police accident reports, showed that in any month, each extended work shift increased chances of a car crash by 16 percent on the commute home and raised the risk of any crash by 9 percent for that month.
Dennis Wylie, a traffic safety consultant in Santa Barbara, Calif., noted that the increased accident risk for interns after an extended work shift roughly corresponds to that of a driver with a blood alcohol level of 0.06 to 0.09 percent. The legal limit is 0.08 for drivers in most states.
StopPagingMe.com is not sure how to interpret this data. Doesn’t this mean that these same first years, towards the end of their shifts, are essentially managing their patients while intoxicated? Hmmmm.
Maybe SPM should do a study and compare tired interns versus drunken interns in patient management skills.
In all seriousness, this study has just fueled the fires of the academics complaining that their hours are too long and they can no longer manage patients safely while working long shifts. Give us a break, already! Every hard working sector of this country works long hours! Investment bankers, lawyers, chefs, teachers, etc etc. And they drive home, too. Open the windows wide, play the music loud, and stop wasting valuable research dollars proving what we already know.
These studies only make physicians seem like a bunch of prima donnas who are afraid of working long hours and difficult shifts. The irony is that most training houestaffers still work tough shifts and don’t mind it that much- it’s the ones who aren’t working as hard that have ample time to put out trivial studies like this.
Take pride in your long hours! Know that it differentiates you from a 9-to-5er and that those long hours, taking care of sick patients, are learning experiences. They are contributing to your knowledge and fortitude as a future physician. Physicians are regarded with respect because of the long hours they work and the selfless dedication they have for their profession. Slowly we are changing this wonderful field into a bunch of shift working automatons. Work hard, read a lot, and stop complaining about being part of the greatest profession on earth.
