tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1509187841033628660.post6735460324218798802..comments2024-03-28T05:48:46.661-07:00Comments on Medicine and Social Justice: Do resident work hours limits create better physicians?Josh Freemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10248920527894775520noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1509187841033628660.post-13024071867765708302011-09-05T20:39:54.103-07:002011-09-05T20:39:54.103-07:00A recent systematic review in the British Medical ...A recent systematic review in the British Medical Journal found reducing doctor work hours to less than 80 per week did not affect patient outcome and quality of post-graduate training. Although included studies were selected for an implemented change in work schedule, used objective measures of quality of clinical training and patient outcome, only one compared results with a concurrent control group. The neutral findings are prone to bias and confounding such as the worse outcomes associated with treating greater numbers of elderly patients with complex chronic illnesses. Only 72 studies were included and no attempt was made to aggregate individual results from included studies to derive a more precise summary estimate of shortened work hours, possibly due to scarcity of well-designed comparative studies or the included studies having being too dissimilar to allow valid metaanalysis. Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence (of benefit of shorter work hours).jystinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10836313497090098722noreply@blogger.com