Quality & Patient Safety

Are less confident doctors being trained in the name of patient safety?

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, March 25, 2009

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A recent New York Times article puts forth the idea that residents are now being trained to think too cautiously in the name of patient safety. Although inherent in training to be a physician is the idea of practicing medicine often, and making mistakes along the way in doing so, newer residents are so concerned that they might commit a medical error that they are more often looking to their predecessors for advice and guidance—perhaps in cases for which they do not need it, asserts the article.

The American Council of Graduate Medical Education limited the number of hours that residents are allowed to work—80 hours per week, with no more than 30 hours allowed in one shift. While this certainly creates a safer patient environment, and healthier residents, the author wonders if it is also having a negative effect on the confidence levels of our future doctors. There has not been any conclusive evidence showing that these regulations have had an effect on patient safety, but they have given doctors less time to think on their own, says the article.

To read the article, click here.



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