Jun

22

Working too much at Massachusetts General

Posted by Dan

June 22, 2009 |

Everyone feels like they’re working too hard during this recession, what with all the companies that have laid off so many employees. But for the general surgery residents at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, the law has decided that, yes, they really have been working too hard.

According to a story in the Boston Herald, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education cited the hospital because surgical residents had been exceeding the maximum amount of hours they were supposed to work a week and had been often working seven days straight.

Residents are not supposed to work more than 80 hours a week. And they are also supposed to be given 10 hours off between shifts.

I don’t know about you, but I’d like my medical personnel to be as well-rested as possible. I know long hours and grueling shifts are part of the mystique of being a resident. I’ve watched my fair share of medical dramas. But this seems like a really dangerous situation to me.

We’re all working too hard, like I said. But I’m not cutting anyone open at my job. If I fall asleep at my desk, no one’s going to die.


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