A new public opinion poll confirms that medical professionals should not work for extremely long durations, reports EHSToday.
The poll, commissioned by Public Citizen, a national nonprofit organization, questioned 500 likely voters of various demographics and political parties about whether long work shifts for medical residents would increase risk and whether medical residents should be limited to the number of hours they can consecutively work.
The phone survey was conducted in response to physician organizations who are lobbying for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education to lift the 16-hour cap for interns in the medical, which would allow them to practice for 28 or more hours in a row without sleep.
