Chapter 19 - Sleepiness in healthcare workers

Summary

This chapter reviews the manner in which sleep deprivation and circadian misalignment lead to impaired performance among healthcare providers. Several sleep and circadian factors affect the performance of physicians-in-training as well as other healthcare providers. In addition to acute sleep restriction, residents suffer chronic sleep restriction. Extended-duration work shifts also increase the likelihood of fatigue-related, self-reported medical errors. As learning is central to medical residency, any factor impairing resident learning is of concern. The only randomized evidence regarding elimination of 30-h shifts, and substitution with 16-h shifts, suggests that errors could in fact decrease by more than double this amount with widespread implementation of a 16-h shift limit. Lab- and field-based studies show us that extended resident shifts impair cognition and likely impair learning. Such impairment translates into error, poor patient care, and resident harm.