I find it absurd that we allow medical staff to work 24 hour shifts. We don't let pilots do that. We don't let truckers do that.
In a secondary analysis that was adjusted for the number of patients per resident physician as a potential confounder, intervention schedules were no longer associated with an increase in errors.
A mechanic sits down next to a doctor at the bar. They get to talking. Before long, the mechanic says, "hey, you and I aren't so different. We both open things up and fix 'em. How come you get so much more credit than I do?"
The doctor says, "You get to turn the cars off before working on them."
[0] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/05/03/architect-vines/
I've heard this claim before, but this seems like a communication problem more than anything else. Keeping insane work schedules as a means to address it seems really suspect to me.
The culture of medical education in the west places doctors in a bubble where 48 hours exhaustion marathons are glorified and considered a rite of passage. Other fields have found ways to do handovers with minimal to no impact on the continuity of operations.
Over the decades hospital administration has grown (because health insurance is complex). Seems obvious that money would be better spent on people that provide healthcare to ease the pain of those currently providing it.
Try being in EMS.
24... 36... 48. The private ambulance company I used to work for allowed you to work 60 hours straight, and then required an 8-12 hour break, if you wanted to work up to another 60.
Funny tradition that refuses to die.
Great show called “the Knick” where I learned about this.