80 hour week?

In 1984 a young woman died tragically at New York Hospital due to errors
made by overworked, sleep-deprived, and inadequately supervised
medical house staff. The sad case of Libby Zion led to the institution of the
80-hour rule in residency training programs (Lerner 2006). Interns and residents
today are permitted by law to participate in patient care for “only”
80 hours per week, just as commercial pilots are intentionally grounded at
periodic intervals to protect the fl ying public from catastrophic pilot error.
Retirement of the macho 120-hour intern’s work week of my era, and the
utter physical and mental exhaustion that accompanied it, was a major
advance in public health and a blessing for both doctors and patients. I
believe that the 80-hour rule thankfully has broken the tradition in training
programs that fostered a culture of future workaholics. Most patients
today likely would agree that it is better to be seen by a well-rested, welladjusted,
and well-rounded doctor than by one who is married to medicine
without moderation.4