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A high rate of first-year medical residents reported violating hospital work limit rules designed to reduce medical mistakes linked to fatigue, researchers at Harvard Medical School found.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association , indicates that at least one rule was violated by 84 percent of the interns after the guidelines were adopted in 2003.
The work hour rules, intended to decrease the rate of medical errors occurring in hospitals every year, limit medical interns from working more than an average 80 hours per week or 30 consecutive hours. Additionally, every resident must have an average of one day to rest every seven days.
But the Harvard study, which assessed 16 Massachusetts hospitals, discovered that almost every hospital reviewed had violated all the elements of the new rule.
First-year medical interns were not the only doctors who failed to follow the work limit rule, according to lead researcher Dr. Christopher Landrigan. Nearly 40 percent of second-year residents reported exceeding the work hour limitation.
This study is part of the increasing amount of research that reviews how residents'' extensive work hours affect their own personal safety and the care of their patients. A rising number of medical errors in hospitals may be linked to fatigue, which significantly increases the risk of serious injury or death.
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