Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Cause for Chage

Medical mistakes - one study the industry does not want to be widely publicized, no doubt. Even so, the list of Doctor error that results in death is not short. The case for changing how we train/educate our medical doctors starts with this article:
Resident doctors following a "heavy call" schedule that can require a 90-hour work week performed more poorly on a driving simulation test than those on a "light call" rotation averaging 44 hours a week who then drank liquor until their blood alcohol level reached 0.05 percent, the study said.

Drivers with a 0.08 percent blood alcohol level are considered drunk.

The research echoes a previous study that found interns who worked heavy schedules made 50 percent more mistakes with patients and had 22 percent more serious errors on critical care units.

No comments: