SLEEP DEPRIVATION AMONG RESIDENTS
The work and on-call hours of residents are disturbing to them7,8 and to the media.9 Many trainees work more than 80 hours a week, and 100-to-120-hour weeks are common.8,10 Regularly scheduled on-call duty is often 24 to 36 hours long and is occasionally even longer. If sleep is possible during on-call duty, it is often limited and fragmented. Fatigue is a common complaint of house staff,8 and many trainees (41 percent) say they have made errors that they attribute to fatigue.11 In addition, there is some evidence that house staff are at increased risk for motor vehicle accidents attributable to fatigue