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Study: Long hours, drinking have similar effects on physicians

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, September 28, 2005

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A new study claims physicians on heavy call perform at the same level of those who serve light call and then drink alcohol. The results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study followed four groups of physicians who were subjected to a driving simulation to check reaction times: Those who worked a light call week, those who worked light call and then had a few drinks, those who worked a heavy call week, and those who worked a heavy call week and were given non-alcoholic drinks to check for a placebo effect.

During the testing, physicians who worked a heavy call week had the same impairments as those who worked a light call week and then had a few drinks. The placebo alcohol group scored the same as the other heavy call group.

Light call was defined as a 44-hour work week, while heavy call was defined as 90 hours with multiple overnight shifts. Light call physicians got an average of 6.5 hours of sleep per night, while heavy call physicians slept an average of three hours a night.

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