This is a little disturbing — do we have to choose between sleep-deprived surgeons or under-prepared surgeons?
Reuters reports a new analysis found that surgeons in training have had fewer opportunities to participate in operations since restrictions on working hours were put in place by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in July 2011. The study, published in JAMA Surgery, compared case logs of 52 interns working under the new restrictions to the case logs of 197 interns from the four years prior to the new restrictions. The interns under the new restrictions worked an average of 66 operations, compared to the previous interns average of 89 operations; participation in operations assisting experienced surgeons and major cases also went down. Experts are concerned the reduced number of operations interns participate in leaves them unprepared as they continue their training.
From the American Association for Justice news release.
