LETTERS

Long shifts for the Ob/Gyn

I read with interest your editorial, “Making short shrift of long shifts: the regulation of resident work hours” [November]. As a practicing Ob/Gyn, I usually work anywhere from 24-hour shifts to 24-hour days all week long. I do not have the luxury of an organization to regulate the hours I am permitted to work each week. Instead, my patients’ needs dictate my schedule. When I work a call of 24 hours—awake all night with a sick patient, surgery, or deliveries—and then have to practice the next day, my thought processes are much slower than they would be had I the benefit of a full night’s sleep. I do not think clearly, and there is an increased chance of my making a mistake. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this problem. There simply are not enough practicing Ob/Gyns to give me the time off required for recuperation.

—MYER S. BORNSTEIN, MD, FACOG
TAUNTON, MASS