Surgeons and Sleep Deprivation - Cast Your Opinion

On Sleep Review’s website there’s a web poll asking the question, “Should drowsy surgeons be obligated to inform patients of their sleep deprivation?” Interesting question.

In a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine (referenced on the web poll) the authors argue, “Sleep deprivation adversely affects clinical performance and impairs psychomotor performance as severely as alcohol intoxication.” While residents are now required to restrict the number of hours they work continuously during their first postgraduate year, no such regulations exist for fully trained physicians.

The editorial goes on to say, “In surgery, there is an 83% increase in the risk of complications (e.g., massive hemorrhage, organ injury, or wound failure) in patients who undergo elective daytime surgical procedures performed by attending surgeons who had less than a 6-hour opportunity for sleep between procedures during a previous on-call night.”

What do you think? Take the poll yourself. Once you take the poll, you’ll see the results to the poll immediately. Pretty cool.