A  study  in published in the  Archives of Surgery  uncovered more evidence that sleepy surgeons are a threat to patient safety--and the news is making its way through the mainstream media (and reaching your patients). On average, a  surgical resident gets 5.3 hours of sleep a day , according to a study of orthopedic surgical residents at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, with some residents only getting 2.8 hours a night.  What's even more alarming is that during a quarter of their waking hours, surgical residents' fatigue is akin to being legally drunk, meaning that they are functioning at 70% mental effectiveness (correlating with a blood alcohol level of 0.08%). We wouldn't let a drunk physician into the operating room. Why would we tolerate a sleepy surgeon?

As new duty-hour rules go into effect next week, academic hospitals may be scrambling to figure out whether updated limits on resident work hours will improve patient care. New research indicates