Tired Docs
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wrote on 27 Aug 2020, 13:00 last edited by
https://www.dotmed.com/news/story/52279
Radiologists are making more errors when interpreting CT studies overnight than they are when examining scans in the daytime.
That’s according to researchers at Mayo Clinic, who found errors frequently occurred more in off-hour body CT interpretations examined overnight, and more so in the latter half of nighttime assignments. Radiologists were also found to have worse error rates at night compared to the day.
“The radiologists who were working overnight had schedules set up to give them ‘ample rest’," study author Dr. Maitray D. Patel, professor of radiology at Mayo Clinic Arizona, told HCB News. “They had 11 hours off before starting any assignment, and only worked a maximum of five nights in a row. The point is that someone has to read out the body CTs that occur after-hours, but are they susceptible to making more errors in doing that just because it is being done at night and they don’t always have a night schedule? Our study suggests that there is some impairment, even if they are well-rested for the night shift...”
Forty-four of the 2,195 studies examined in the day had errors, compared to 240 of 7,895 nighttime studies. Body CT interpretations during the day had an error rate of 2%, while those during the night had a rate of 3%. Thirty-two radiologists in all evaluated off-hour scans. Of these, 22 had higher error rates for night cases (69%). Errors in the last half of the night assignment were 125 out of 3,358 cases (12 a.m. to 6:59 a.m.), compared to the 115 found in the first half (6 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.) which consisted of 4,537 cases.
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wrote on 27 Aug 2020, 13:14 last edited by Mik
No surprise there. People don't adjust quite that fast to changing shifts. Your mind may know that you need to get ample rest when you can, but your body does not.
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wrote on 27 Aug 2020, 14:25 last edited by
Outsource nighttime radiology to India.
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wrote on 27 Aug 2020, 14:48 last edited by
I am close to a radiologist and their income is a deal with the devil. To continue to get the big bucks their workload has become untenable. Much of what they did has become commoditized
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wrote on 27 Aug 2020, 14:53 last edited by George K
@jon-nyc said in Tired Docs:
Outsource nighttime radiology to India.
Good idea but the liability issues would be huge. Radiologist in Mumbai misses a hot appendix or a small intracranial hemorrhage for example.
Patient is sent home.,,,
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wrote on 27 Aug 2020, 15:24 last edited by
Have artificial intelligence supplement or cross-check radiologist’s work.
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@jon-nyc said in Tired Docs:
Outsource nighttime radiology to India.
Good idea but the liability issues would be huge. Radiologist in Mumbai misses a hot appendix or a small intracranial hemorrhage for example.
Patient is sent home.,,,
wrote on 27 Aug 2020, 18:56 last edited by@George-K said in Tired Docs:
@jon-nyc said in Tired Docs:
Outsource nighttime radiology to India.
Good idea but the liability issues would be huge. Radiologist in Mumbai misses a hot appendix or a small intracranial hemorrhage for example.
Patient is sent home.,,,
Local hospital sends their night stuff to Australia
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No surprise there. People don't adjust quite that fast to changing shifts. Your mind may know that you need to get ample rest when you can, but your body does not.
wrote on 28 Aug 2020, 01:22 last edited by@Mik said in Tired Docs:
No surprise there. People don't adjust quite that fast to changing shifts. Your mind may know that you need to get ample rest when you can, but your body does not.
I agree Mik. I had one assignment where I was in the US, but had to keep taiwan time for about a week (with a break in the middle) , then follow US time for about a week, and then back etc. Lasted about 3-4 months, but that whole time, it felt like I was going through syrup. I am not sure how shift workers can do that long term.