NPR : Safety of Medical Residents' Long Hours Questioned

NPR : Safety of Medical Residents' Long Hours Questioned: "The Risks of Fatigue

Other researchers have explored risks associated with fatigue among medical interns. Among the findings:

� The impairment associated with 24 hours of sleep loss is comparable to that associated with a 0.10 percent blood alcohol concentration.

� The average reaction time triples when individuals are awake for 24 consecutive hours. The slowest 10 percent of reaction times increase in duration by nearly 10 times.

� Attentional failures occur frequently after being awake for 24 hours. These failures occurred twice as often at night among interns working 30-hour shifts, as compared to those same interns when they were scheduled to work no more than 16 consecutive hours.

� Interns working 30-hour shifts in an intensive care unit made 36 percent more serious medical errors, including 5.6 times more serious diagnostic errors, as compared to those same interns when they were scheduled to work no more than 16 consecutive hours."