Concerned that their doctors-in-training were working too many marathon shifts, many states have limited the number of hours their residents can work.  The thinking was that long shifts often affected patient care, leading residents to make mistakes in their treatments.

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association actually shows no correlation between hours worked and the quality of care given to  Medicaid patients.  They conclude that \”implementation of duty hours limitations was not associated with any significant change in risk-adjusted mortality among Medicare patients.\”