A narrative review of high-quality literature on the effects of resident duty hours reforms.

Lin H, Lin E, Auditore S, Fanning J. Acad Med. 2015 Oct 5; [Epub ahead of print].

Seminal studies and widely publicized cases linking fatigue among trainee physicians with medical errors led to rules that limited duty hours for residents, but the evidence has beenmixed regarding whether reduced work hours have enhanced safety. This narrative review found that resident well-being improved following duty hour reforms. Patient safety may have improved, but, if so, the effects were small. More research is needed to determine the effect of duty hours changes on resident education and hospital costs.