Assessing the Impact of a Change to the Work Schedule of Resident Physicians: a Mixed Methods Study

University of British Columbia

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Patient Safety; Resident Work Hours

Treatments: Behavioral: Intervention work shift

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01398878

H09-02007

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of eliminating traditional resident work shifts (i.e. greater than 24 hours in length) on patient safety and resident educational outcomes. In addition, the investigators will explore with key stakeholders (patients and their families, nurses, resident physicians and attending physicians) their experiences when residents are undertaking shifts greater than 24 hours in length as compared to 16 hours or less.

Enrollment: 80 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Residents completing Intensive Care Unit rotations
• For focus groups and interviews, patients and families members admitted during the study period and nurses and attending physicians working during the study period

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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80 participants in 2 patient groups

Traditional work schedule

No Intervention group

Description:

Residents in the intensive care unit perform overnight shifts in excess of 24 hrs every fourth night

Intervention work schedule

Active Comparator group

Description:

Residents in the Intensive Care Unit perform shifts less than 16 hours in length and have at least 8 hours off between shifts

Treatment:

Behavioral: Intervention work shift