Aren long hours necessary to train high-quality physicians?
New York has had regulations in place since 1989 that mandate that residents must not work more than 80 hours a week or more than 24 hours consecutively. But no one claims that physicians from New York are poorly trained when compared to their colleagues around the country. Further, A study in the Dec. 2000 of Nature Neuroscience showed that sleepy individuals had more trouble picking up new skills than their well-rested counterparts. How much learning really happens in the 30th consecutive hour on duty?
