Work-Hour Limits for Residents — But What About Attendings?

To limit medical errors, the Institute of Medicine released, and subsequently modified, work-hour recommendations for residents. However, little attention has been paid to work hours of attending physicians who supervise residents.

Researchers conducted a matched retrospective study of obstetrical and surgical procedures at a U.S. urban tertiary care academic center. Procedures were identified as postnighttime procedures if they were performed by attending physicians who had performed additional procedures during the preceding night (midnight–6 am). A total of 919 surgical and 957 obstetrical postnighttime procedures were matched with 3552 and 3945 control procedures (performed by the same physicians, but not after overnight work), respectiv…