Eighty-hour weekly limits on work for surgical residents haven’t hurt patients, as some in the medical community feared. In fact, surgical complications have fallen, according to a new study of gallbladder procedures at a California hospital, though it’s unclear whether the change has anything to do with residents getting more sleep. The study appear in the current Archives of Surgery and looks at the effect of the restrictions on gallbladder surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif. The researchers looked back at the medical records of 2,470 patients who had their gallbladders removed laparoscopically — about half of them before UCLA put the 80-hour restriction on residents in place, and about half of them afterward. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a minimally invasive technique, is one of the most commonly performed procedures by surgical residents, the authors write. The upshot: after the shorter work weeks, fewer patients had surgical injuries to the bile ducts, a problem that’s one of most frequent triggers for malpractice suits. The results were interesting because a greater percentage of patients treated after the shorter work week came along were male and had acute cholecystitis, both of which are associated with a higher risk of bile-duct injury. But it’s not clear exactly why the second group ended up having fewer complications.
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