re: #320 calochortus

Or die trying. The good news from residency-land is that the 30 hour “call” shift is about to be a thing of the past, although the prohibition only applies to the incoming interns in July. More enlightened hospitals are instituting it across the board. The hours will still be long, but there will be less sleep deprivation-good for residents and good for patients.

Not really. 30 hours a shift isn’t really that long. The uncomfortable truth of the situation is that if the situation is dire and things are critical (ie. the time when fatigue may well cause a serious mistake), nobody’s going home, 30 hours or 60 hours or more. In situations like that, changing over to a new person is more likely to introduce a serious error, rather than just staying yourself.

In surgical specialties, 80 hours a week isn’t long enough. It just isn’t, especially when you’re a resident. You can’t learn all you need to in that short a period. Surgical specialties are debating pulling out of the ACGME over the 80 hour week and no call restrictions, because their interns simply won’t be functional with so few hours. Limiting hours is actually pretty unpopular among students and residents, because a) you’re only delaying the baptism by fire that everyone has to go through, and b) it will result in longer residencies, which nobody wants.