Much has been said recently about working long hours and the associated risk of errors. Does your agency have rules about how many hours you can work consecutively or in a given week?
I spoke with a career firefighter recently who told me his department limited him to 3 shifts (72 hours) consecutively. Working in a slow house might not be so bad. Working a busy rescue...bad.
Even Reader's Digest has written about this in their article entitled Night Shift Nightmare. Although this is about hospitals and hospital personnel, I think we can all relate to the doc who fell asleep at traffic lights on the way home.
Want more info on patient safety and errors? Try: AHRQ Patient Safety network.
Be careful out there. For you...and your patients.
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2 comments:
As many as my wife lets me!
This sounds like the voice of experience. Thanks for stopping by.
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