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JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) recently published the study “Assessment of Physician Sleep and Wellness, Burnout, and Clinically Significant Medical Errors”.

Peter K. Kim, MD, M.M.M, author of the publication, is a General, Trauma and Oncologic Surgeon at PAGNY (NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx and Jacobi. He is also an Associate Professor of Clinical Surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Board Member at PAGNY (Physician Affiliate Group of New York, P.C)

Abstract: Sleep-related impairment in physicians is an occupational hazard associated with long and sometimes unpredictable work hours and may contribute to burnout and self-reported clinically significant medical error.

The objectives of this study were to assess the association between sleep-related impairment and occupational wellness indicators—work exhaustion, interpersonal disengagement, overall burnout, and professional fulfillment—in a large sample of physicians in postgraduate training and attending physicians at academic-affiliated medical centers and to assess the associations of sleep-related impairment and burnout with self-reported clinically significant medical error.
This study also explored differences in sleep-related impairment by medical specialty and between attending physicians and postgraduate medical trainees in the same specialty.

This is a significant contribution to the understanding of the relationship between sleep-related impairment and physicians’ wellness.

Read the publication here