Background

Much time and energy has been focussed on resident fatigue and its potential impact on the quality of medical care.  As early as 1984, New York passed regulations regarding resident work hours because a woman died at a New York hospital after being cared for by a resident who had been on duty for 18 hours. 

More recently, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has enforced work hour regulations limiting residents to an 80 hour work week/30 hour shift maximum, with an average of 1 out of every 7 days off in the spirit of patient safety.  However, little has been done to look at the effect the long hours and high stress environment have on residents themselves.