| August 2005 · Vol. 17, No. 8 LETTERS
OBs: The few. The tired. The impaired.
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Fast Track
“Until there is a limit to ObGyns’ lengthy hours, we will continue to get ourselves into trouble”
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I was surprised when Dr. Robert L. Barbieri’s June editorial about the long working hours of ObGyns (“The few. The proud. The OBs.”) failed to mention the potential negative impact on patient safety. Dr. Barbieri apparently believes we should be proud to work such long hours. Instead, the editorial should have been called “The few. The tired. The impaired. The OBs.”
We are in the middle of a malpractice crisis, and patient safety also has taken center stage. The Institute of Medicine’s 1999 report,To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System,revealed that medical errors contribute to many hospital deaths and serious adverse events. They also contribute to our malpractice crisis. Yet the potential impact of sleep loss and fatigue on errors and malpractice suits, specifically among ObGyns, has received only sporadic attention.
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