Opinion
Want zero errors? Try zero residents
LETTER — Posted Dec. 27, 2004
After reading your article on the research into residents' work hours (Article, Dec. 6), it seems obvious to me that the fewer hours worked, the better. So why not just cut down residency to a 40-hour-a-week job? Punch in, punch out. Wouldn't that save even more lives? Or better than that, why not just cut out residency all together? After all, if residents made 36% more serous errors while working the longer hours, we should be able to cut the error rate down to 0% by not having residents see patients at all.
John White, MD, Jackson, Tenn.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/12/27/edlt1227.htm.
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