Are surgery residents less likely to burn out when they work shorter hours?
In July 2003, the organization that accredits medical residency programs responded to growing pressure by placing caps on the number of hours residents were allowed to work. For years, patient advocacy groups had been saying that after working 30 hours straight or 110 hours in a week, residents might not be in peak condition for providing medical care. Residency programs in surgery are known for being particularly grueling; researchers looked at whether surgery residents at the University of California Irvine were less likely to burn out now that they’re supposed to work only 80 to 88 hours a week. What the researchers wanted to know: Is surgery resident burnout less common now than it was before work hours were restricted? What they did: The 37 surgery residents and 27 faculty members in U.C. Irvine’s surgery department were asked to fill out an anonymous online survey and a weeklong registry of how they spent their time. They did this twice one week before the deadlines were implemen
