The United States' largest, independent medical student organisation, The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) has commended a new study which will be published in the forthcoming edition of the New England Medical Journal. The Study "Extended Work Shifts and the Risk of Motor Vehicle Crashes Among Interns" highlights the need for improvements in intern work hour regulations.
Residents face increased safety risks when subjected to extended work hours.
The study found that for every extended shift in a month, an intern's risk of a motor vehicle crash increases by over 16 percent during their commute. Forty-one percent of the reported motor vehicle crashes included significant damage and were caused on the commute from work. The authors note that the findings "have implications for medical residency programs, which routinely schedule physicians to work more than 24 consecutive hours."
Over one year ago, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education implemented guidelines for resident work hours, which state that residents cannot work over 30 hours per shift. AMSA believes that this six-hour deviation needs to be amended, as these work shifts are unsafe for residents, patients and motorists.