Four years after national limits on duty hours for medical residentstook effect — and nearly two decades after similar limitswere enacted by New York State — conversations with residencydirectors, attending physicians, health care researchers, andsleep-medicine experts suggest that neither patient care normedical education is optimal under the current system and thatfurther reforms are needed. But there is little agreement onwhat should be done or even on whether the work-hour limitsshould be tightened or relaxed.
U.S. teaching hospitals are handling more admissions, treatingolder and sicker patients, and discharging patients more quicklythan . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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Dr. Okie is a contributing editor of the Journal.
An interview with Ethan Fried of St. Luke's–Roosevelt Hospital Center can be heard at www.nejm.org.
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