Literature evidence for safety/unsafety of working hours

Pastafarian

So since there has been some recent debate on the forum regarding nchd working hours, I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread where we could post some literature evidence on the safety, efficacy etc etc of different patterms of working hours - shift versus non shift, 60 horus shifts, error rates, handover issues etc etc etc.

There's a lot of smart people on here - it occurs to me if we pool our time and resources on this we might actually build up a nice little literature list of relevant articles and who knows maybe learn a few things. And who knows it may prove a useful resource in its own right.

I'll start with two studies that look intersting from a theory persepctive (ok havn'e had chance to read in full just yet but will aim to over next few weeks):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19766673
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20418150

So anyone else with expertise or merely interesting links please chip in!

Jane5

http://twoweeksonatrolley.blogspot.com/2010/09/long-hours-or-long-time-training.html#comments

An excellent post over at www.twoweeksonatrolley.blogspot.com.

I can't say any more, really.

Btw, came across some research done in Canada, I think it was, where they conclusively demonstrated a causal link between continuous long shifts and cardiac arrhythmias in young doctors. Will dig out link and post up.