Institute for Continuing Education

Resident Duty Hours: Enhancing Sleep, Supervision and Safety

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Explain the neurobehavioral and physiological effects of acute and chronic sleep deprivation on cognitive performance, psychomotor function, vigilance, and clinical decision-making relevant to healthcare professionals.
• Identify the relationship between shift work, night work, and extended work hours on healthcare worker fatigue, sleep quality, and safety outcomes including medical errors, patient safety events, and occupational injuries.
• Describe current regulations and guidelines governing work hours and fatigue management for healthcare workers including resident physician duty hours, nursing shift regulations, and recommendations for allied health professionals.
• Recognize signs and symptoms of acute and chronic fatigue in oneself and colleagues, understanding individual vulnerability factors and risk assessment for impaired performance.
• Apply evidence-based fatigue risk management strategies in sleep medicine practice including scheduling considerations, nap protocols, light exposure interventions, and personal sleep health optimization.
• Evaluate the unique fatigue and sleep challenges facing sleep technologists working night shifts and irregular schedules, including impact on polysomnographic performance quality, patient safety, and professional wellbeing.
• Implement organizational and individual-level interventions to mitigate fatigue-related risks in sleep medicine settings, promoting a culture of safety that acknowledges fatigue as a safety hazard requiring systematic management.

Course Information

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) offers an extensively updated and revised version of S.A.F.E.R. (Sleep, Alertness and Fatigues Education in Residency), a tool for educating residents about the effects of sleep deprivation on performance.

The new version includes an expanded PowerPoint presentation with core sections on recognizing sleepiness, the effects of fatigue on medical education and strategies for managing drowsiness.

The updated program came about after researchers at Brown University determined that drowsy residents performed as poorly or worse as someone who had consumed three to four alcoholic beverages. The study is published in a September 2007 issue of JAMA.