What many people may not realize about the medical field is that the days of extremely long shifts are basically over. When we say “extremely long,” we’re talking about 36-hour shifts. These used to be very common, and most medical professionals expected these shifts, and had to prepare for them by resting up prior to — or even resting during — the shift.
These extreme conditions have given way to shifts that usually end after 14 hours. That’s still a long day, but it’s much more manageable. And as a potential patient, you’re probably happy to hear this. After all, shorter shifts would seem to imply that medical professionals are better rested, more alert and, thus, more able to perform their job.
However, don’t celebrate the 14-hour shift just yet. Since staff is constantly changing in a 14-hour model, it means that patients (and their information) are being handed over to new staff members much more frequently before. Every hand-off is a chance for a mistake to occur. A lack of communication or just a simple miscommunication could be the difference between a patient living or dying.
A new study gives us hope though. The study looked at improved communication tactics between doctors that are changing shifts or handing patients off to a new medical staffer.
The study found that these improved tactics could reduce injuries stemming from medical errors by up to 30 percent. Considering that 80 percent of serious medical errors stem from miscommunication between medical staffers, and that 440,000 people die every year due to medical errors, these improved communication techniques are a huge step in the right direction.
Source: The Oregonian, “Hospital medical errors that harm patients, a leading cause of death, plummet in study,” Lynne Terry, Nov. 5, 2014
