Consistent Direction Despite Wavering Policy: Reductions in Resident Physician Extended Duration Shifts Over 20 Years

Details

• Journal Article:
  The American Journal of Medicine
• Personal Author:
  Weaver, Matthew D. ; Barger, Laura K. ; Sullivan, Jason P. ; Qadri, Salim ; Czeisler, Charles A. ; Landrigan, Christopher P.
• Description:
  We examined data from 17,498 physicians-in-training who reported on 92,662 months of work over a 20-year study interval that included three major revisions to work hour limits. Extended duration shifts (≥ 24 hours; EDS) are much less common than they used to be. On average, first-year resident physicians (PGY1s) currently work a total of 4 EDS per year and 3 EDS per month during months in which any EDS are worked. This is in stark contrast to the experience of PGY1s training in the early 2000s when the average was approximately 1 EDS per week over the year. More senior resident physicians (PGY2+) have observed concurrent reductions despite their exclusion from the ACGME guidelines limiting EDS. Resident physicians across all levels of training in surgical programs continue to work more EDS than those in medical programs. Similarly, resident physicians on intensive care unit rotations work these shifts more frequently compared to other rotations. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Internship and Residency
  • Occupational Health
  • Physicians
  • Safety
  • Shift Work
• Keywords:
  • Physicians
  • Long work hours
  • Work schedules
  • Policy
  • Shift work
  • Author Keywords: Duty hours
  • Resident physicians
  • Work hour policies
• ISSN:
  0002-9343
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Boston Region OSHA ; Massachusetts
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  7 pdf pages
• Volume:
  138
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071732
• Citation:
  Am J Med 2025 May; 138(5):906-911.e1
• Contact Point Address:
  Matthew D. Weaver, PhD, Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Ave, Suite 438A, Boston, MA 02215
• Email:
  mdweaver@bwh.harvard.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Performing Organization:
  Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  2019/09/01
• End Date:
  2023/08/31
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/259957/cdc_259957_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.15 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3e65ea3f64ed9f63c1e5aef90b860f4a6c0ddcb0dbf8d128c8556b8b23ba95fe966882aeee02745b19d81f95b10adf744793aab282cd1514f97ad04a0584a047