Additional resources:
The prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) in December 2008 released its landmark report, Resident Duty Hours: Enhancing Sleep, Supervision, and Safety, the most comprehensive study of resident work hours conducted to date. The study reviews the robust evidence base linking fatigue with decreased performance in both research laboratory and clinical settings and makes a number of important recommendations for changes in the current system of training physicians. These include new limits on resident physician work hours and work load, increased supervision, training in structured hand-overs and quality improvement systems, more rigorous oversight and the identification of expanded funding sources necessary to successfully implement the recommended reforms. Additional information on Resident Duty Hours: Enhancing Sleep, Supervision, and Safety can be found at http://www.iom.edu/residenthours. Copies of the report are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 b or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. In addition, a podcast of the public briefing held to release this report is available at http://national-academies.org/podcast.
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