The issues with medical student residency

The world will always need doctors, so the training of future doctors becomes incredibly important. Medical school is an expensive investment for any prospective doctor, but the economic commitment aside, the additional stress of a residency program can effect the mental health of medical students. Medical residency can last from three to seven years depending on the discipline each student is pursuing and the hours that medical residents work are long with little breaks in between them. The residents are required to work 80 hours per week, with a maximum shift length of 30 hours, and a 10 hour break after their shift length. There really is no time for rest and recuperation because the entire schedule is going to consist of eating, sleeping, and working with patients.

This is an important experience for resident medical students to have because it simulates the stress of working in a hospital as a real doctor, but some argue that the long hours and high stress environment can cause sleep deprivation that will lead to more medical errors by residents. The Institute of Medicine released a paper with suggestions to change the residency hour parameters to allow for more breaks in between shifts and more time off. Specifically, they recommended that instead of 4 days off per month, residents get 5, added a 48 hour period off per month, and limited the the number of in hospital night shifts to 4. These changes were made back in 2009, and as minor as they seem they make all the difference to the medical students who are working in the hospitals.

As we progress towards the future of medicine it is important that the education of young doctors progresses as well. The traditional method of putting residents through all this stress may prove to be less effective at actually teaching the students, opposed to a shorter work week with an increase in the frequency of breaks. The last thing you want to have happen is for a resident to make a serious mistake with a patient because they were exhausted from their lack of sleep. The rigor of American residency is something that I think makes our country unique and it something that I wouldn’t want to change. That being said I imagine that there is a way to keep the intense environment that the medical residency creates, but make sure that residents are safe and healthy in the process. This way we can create future generations of competent and mindful doctors.