Effect on Patient Safety of a Resident Physician Schedule Without 24-Hour Shifts

(Abstracted from N Engl J Med2020;382:2514–2523)Over the last 4 decades, a body of literature has studied the effect of extended shifts (working ≥24 hours) for resident physicians on their alertness and performance, and by extension, patient safety. Since then, the results of further studies have been inconsistent.