Residents working extended shifts without breaks did not negatively impact patient outcomes, based on a new study from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, according to The Washington Post.
Karl Bilimoria, MD, director of surgical outcomes and quality improvement center at Feinberg, headed the study. The study evaluated records of 139,000 patients who were cared for by 4,330 general surgery residents. The study spanned 115 programs in the 2014 to 2015 school year.
Half of the residents worked 80-hour weeks, with 16-hour limits for first years and 28-hour limits for second years. The residents in this group were required to take an eight hour break after every shift. The other half of residents worked 80-hour weeks, but had no limitations on shifts or breaks.
New England Journal of Medicine published the findings online.
Here are six takeaways:
1. Hospitals with longer-worked residents did not experience increased patient rates of death, serious illness, infection and pneumonia.
2. The residents in the study liked working longer shifts, as it allowed them to enhance their education. They also reported the extended shifts did not hurt their health.
3. The study's findings counter the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's 30-hour shift ban in 2011. Opponents of the limited shift schedule argue the first 36 hours of a case are critical to a resident's education.
4. With the limited shift schedule, residents are legally required to leave in the middle of a procedure or while stabilizing a patient when there shifts are up, which decreases patient care quality and resident education.
5. The residents without shift limitations provided better continuity of care than the resident with shift limitations.
6. Residents without shift limitations also reported a negative impact on their personal lives.