In a previous post, I discussed sleep deprivation and fatigue among doctors, and its effects on medical complications and errors. Last week, a coalition of public interest and patient safety groups launched a campaign to increase public awareness and gather stories about patients who have received inferior medical care from tired and sleepy doctors.

The campaign features a website (WakeUpDoctor) where “the public can get background information about the correlation between physician sleep deprivation and patient safety, share stories and sign on to a letter expressing support for commonsense regulations to reduce the number of work hours and enhance supervision of resident physicians.”

The campaign argues that more than 100,000 resident doctors across the country routinely work shifts of 24-30 consecutive hours, with little or no sleep in between. At the end of these shifts, they get behind the wheel of a car and drive home. After a few hours of sleep, they are likely to be back in the hospital for two days of "short" 8 or 12-hour shifts, followed by up-to 30-hour of an "on-call" shift.

Numerous studies suggest that these long work hours are “linked to a significant increase in attentional failures, performance deficits and medical errors -- and to increased car accidents that harm residents and the drivers and passengers they crash into.” A 2008 report from the Institute of Medicine asserted “that revisions to medical residents’ workloads and duty hours are necessary to better protect patients against fatigue-related errors and to enhance the learning environment for doctors in training.” It recommended that residency programs provide regular opportunities for sleep each day and each week during resident training and that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME -- the group that oversees the training of doctors in the U.S) provide better monitoring of duty hour limits.

While other industries responsible for public safety such as transportation and nuclear power have been subject to federal regulations that limit the number of hours their employees can work for decades, medicine has been lagging behind. “Why not in medicine, where the stakes are at least as high or higher?” the campaign asks.

Other patient advocate groups such as Public Citizen, Mothers Against Medical Errors, and several others have also sent a letter to ACGME, to call for shorter shifts and more supervision of resident doctor.