Should We Limit Resident Work Hours?

AOA should support IOM report on resident work hours.

To the Editor: In December 2008, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report, Resident Duty Hours: Enhancing Sleep, Supervision, and Safety,1 calling for changes in resident training programs to reduce fatigue-related medical errors and to protect patients. Shortly after the IOM released its report, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) weighed in on the report’s findings—with a pres...

Resident duty hours around the globe: where are we now?

Safe and appropriate health care, especially in urgent or emergency situations, is the expectation of the public throughout the developed world. Achieving this goal requires appropriate levels of medical and other staff, appropriate training, and sensible working hours. Too often the brunt of such care, especially in out-of-hours situations, is borne by medical residents, who--to make matters w...

Selected Articles on Resident and Physician Work Hours

Geoengineering: could we or should we make it work?

Schemes to modify large-scale environment systems or control climate have been proposed for over 50 years to (i) increase temperatures in high latitudes, (ii) increase precipitation, (iii) decrease sea ice, (iv) create irrigation opportunities, or (v) offset potential global warming by injecting iron in the oceans or sea-salt aerosol in the marine boundary layer or spreading dust in the stratos...

Fiscal sustainability and demographics - should we save or work more ? ∗

Approaching demographic shifts are raising concerns about fiscal sustainability in most OECD countries. A widespread view based on the tax-smoothing idea is that a prior consolidation of public finances is required to cope with the predicted trend deterioration in the primary budget balance. Both positive aspects in assessing the order of magnitude of sustainability problems and normative aspec...