Sleepy resident

By: Julie McCoy July 18th, 2008

For those of you who don’t know, I live right in the middle of Boston. Last week, I was on the T—Boston’s subway system— and I noticed a young man falling asleep in his seat right in the middle of this crowded, noisy, jostling train.

I felt bad for the poor guy and started to look away, but before I turned my head, I saw he was wearing hospital scrubs. Although there’s no way for me to know for sure, I guessed this sleepy traveler was a resident feeling the effects of fatigue.

Seeing this really hit home for me and underscored the importance of duty hour limitations, and educating residents on what to do if they’re feeling fatigued. As I watched him—eyes closed, head continuously nodding off— I couldn’t help but put myself in the place of the last patient he saw that day.

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Julie McCoy



Julie McCoy is the associate editor for the residency market at HCPro, Inc.

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Julie has written 192 posts.

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