Cutting resident hours could cost big bucks
Comments
There is evidence showing health care worker fatigue after approximately 12 hours of continuous work (Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2007 Nov;33(11 Suppl):7-18), yet hospitals and residency programs continue to require overnight shifts and excessively long work weeks in the interest of "training". Given the economics outlined here, there are obviously undeniable, major financial influences involved. Excessive work hours are inhumane and unsafe. Residents and other health care workers are human beings, not machines. Adding residents will not change the fact that they are currently grossly underpaid. Our society and the facilities that employ these hard-working professionals who selflessly save other's lives at all cost will just have to find another way; that is their job, not the residents'.





