Compare And Contrast A Policy That Cuts Resident And Intern Shifts From 28 Hours To 20 Hours

As a way to remedy this growing problem, I propose a policy that cuts resident and intern shifts from 28 hours to 20 hours. These 20 hours would go towards the 80 hour work week. A change that will occur from the previous cap would be that instead of averaging the 80 hours over four weeks, it would be no more than 80 hours a week unless extreme circumstances such as mass trauma occurs. Doctors will work 20 hours four days a week and have 28 hours in between each shift. I believe that it would be beneficial to have doctors work a day then have a day to catch up on sleep and spend time with family. This policy would be overseen by the hospitals however considering hospitals in Europe have restrictions that they do not follow, state governments

The difference being that only interns were limited to 16 hours. According to a study published in Academic Medicine this cap had benefits such as interns treating more patients, making more detailed notes, and attending more medical conferences (Theobald, et al., 2013). Despite the benefits this article lists, when the cap was lifted in July 2017, many interns were happy. Dr. Anai Kothari told the Washington Post that he felt that he had missed critical moments with his patients because he was sent home and that he got less hands on learning (Bernstein, 2017). Another issue that Dr. Desai of Johns Hopkins found was that patient handoffs to other doctors increased from three to nine when shifts were reduced to 16 hours (“Reducing Work Hours,” 2013). This increase in handoffs led to an increase in handoff errors. A cap of 20 hours will lower the 9 handoffs to 7 handoffs. An argument can be made that this is still too many handoffs compared to the 3 handoffs during a 28 hour shift. However if doctors keep adequate notes in a patient’s chart then the amount of handoff errors should be limited. Placing a 20 hour cap gives interns an extra four hours to treat their patients as well as four hours to get more hands on training all the while decreasing the level of fatigue

This is incorrect because all though the hours are limited, the work week increases. I have created a sample schedule that shows the set schedule a group of doctors will work. It includes a two hour overlap that is considered the transitioning time in which the doctors brief the incoming shift on the patients’ and their needs. In my schedule, doctors work either the day shift or the night shift, this allows the doctor's’ bodies to adapt to the hours that they are required to work. The day shift and the night shift would rotate every month so every resident will work the day shift six months of the year and the night shift the other six