this post was submitted on 25 May 2026
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Are these really the people that should be required to work so much? Isn't their job about handling life and death daily? Wouldn't we want exactly these people to come fully rested to work every single day and be fully staffed?

I don't know if there are jobs with similar stakes that are so carelessly staffed and disgustingly paid.

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[–] lavander@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 1 day ago (4 children)

This is actually an interesting question.

They experimented with “office hours” for doctors and patients were dying more than double/triple shift.

This because the information lost during handoff was more valuable than doctors being more tired (and by consequence doing more mistakes).

This is a textbook example of the risks of lost context

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 7 points 6 hours ago

I'd like to see those numbers. I'm not finding clear numbers on shift-length mortality. This meta review (Systematic Review of the Impact of Physician Work Schedules on Patient Safety with Meta-Analyses of Mortality Risk, 2023, DOI: 10.1016/j.jcjq.2023.06.014 ) says

Limiting all resident physicians to 80-hour work weeks and 28-hour shifts in 2003 was associated with an 11% reduction in mortality (p < 0.001). Limited shift durations and shorter work weeks were also associated with improved patient safety in clinical trials and observational studies not specifically tied to policy changes.

I think we can all agree that a 28 hour shift is fucking insane and that anybody doing such a long shift will not be of sound capacity.

And if hand-offs are killing more people than work hours, then that just means that the hand-off procedures are terrible. I'd want to see what kind of hand-offs are being compared and if hand-off methods have different patient events.

[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

I mean, did they increase staff numbers proportionally to hour reduction or did they just have people go home? Because if it's the latter, then duh.

[–] kamen@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago

I've also heard that and it makes sense, but if it's a statistic already at this point, can't it serve as a way to improve information storing and handover? I have nothing in common with the medical industry, this is just an outside observation.

[–] Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

I fully agree with this as far as why they do extended shifts of 12 hours or more. But, OP did say double and triple shifts so they might not be just referencing the longer shifts. In that case it is corporate greed.