Study Shows Long Hospital Shifts and Sleep Deprivation Cause Deaths in Hospitals

Scott Smith

Contributor

0 CommentsPrint ArticleSubscribe

A recent Harvard Medical School study found long hospital shifts and sleep deprivation resulted in fatigue related mistakes and increased harm to patients by 700%. Residents who worked five marathon shifts (24 hours or longer) in a single month directly correlated with making errors that in turn increased the risk of death by 300%.

The study included the fact that medical residents are regularly scheduled to work marathon shifts. Numerous studies cited in the Harvard report show that people who are awake for 18 hours straight can have trouble thinking clearly and can zone out or nod off suddenly.

The Accreditation Counsel for Graduate Medical Education out of Chicago limits work schedules to no more than 80 hours in a week but still allow marathon shifts that last beyond 24 hours. The study included a survey of over 2700 first year medical residents who reported errors they made while on duty. The residents in the study reported making 156 fatigue related errors that injured the patient and 31 mistakes that led to wrongful death.

The study also revealed approximately 100,000 medical residents in the United States routinely work marathon shifts resulting in data suggesting there are tens of thousands of preventable injuries to patients annually.

Common characteristics of residents who worked five or more shifts of 24 hours or longer suffer from forgetfulness, difficulty in making decisions and lack of attention. These characteristics often lead to falling asleep during surgery, nodding off while talking to or examining a patient and dozing during medical lectures or patient rounds. The study can be found at Charles Czeisler, Harvard Medical School; Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine.