Reduced surgical training hours harm patients and education, Canada study finds

Reducing surgical trainees’ work hours has led to worse patient outcomes and poorer trainee performance on certification programmes without clearly improving the trainees’ sense of wellbeing, a new study claims.1

The systematic review was conducted as part of a project by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to develop a consensus policy document on duty hour reductions for doctors in training.2

Najma Ahmed, of the University of Toronto in Ontario, was the lead author of the paper, which was published online by the journal Annals of Surgery.

In 2003 the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in the United States mandated an 80 hour duty limit for residents as an average …