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by hga 6001 days ago
Yeah, that's how I read it as well. It just showed the deleterious effects of one particular sleep regime ... which surprised no one I expect. It was clearly for the whole "how do we work residents" issue.

I was impressed by the reaction time loss. 2 seconds very long.
1 comments
jerf 6001 days ago
I find myself wondering just how many of these "the resident sleep schedule is fucking insane and kills patients" studies we'll have to get through before someone, anyone, finally takes the oh-so-radical step of actually changing the schedule.

BREAKING NEWS: Medical residents are in fact not superhumans invulnerable to sleep deprivation. That the medical community doesn't understand this actually offends me; it's my life and yours they're dicking around with. (Yes, I know they intellectual understand it, but until their actions reflect it I will not say they "understand it".)

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jessewmc 6001 days ago
The bulk of the data shows that errors due to sleep deprivation are less than those due to context switching to a new doctor. This is the reason for the intense schedules, not sadism. If you're aware of studies that dispute that I'd be interested in reading them.
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tow21 6001 days ago
The other day, I was speaking to a doctor friend who's in the middle of sleep-deprived training, and she defended the practice.

She said that even as a senior doctor, you are going to have to pull insanely long shifts at times. Under those conditions, you're clearly not going to be working at your best. So you're going to have to develop good instincts; more importantly, you're going to have develop trust in your own instincts, that will allow you to operate effectively despite ridiculous levels of sleep deprivation.

And the only way to do that is to go through that in a semi-controlled environment in your training.

Says my friend the doctor anyway.

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hga 6000 days ago
Yeah, I've wondered if this was akin to military Basic Training and the like, where one of the objectives is exactly that, to learn how to preform when sleep deprived and stressed out.

Another factor is being on call, getting woken up at a bad time and nonetheless having to make the best possible decision.

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