Sleep is a funny thing. We‟re taught that we should get seven or eight hours a night, bu
Doctors have their own special sleep problems. Residents are famously short of sleep. It is not unusual for them to work 40 hours in a row without rest. They are not in the least worried about it, confident they can still deliver the highest quality of medical care. But an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association points out that in the morning after 24 hours of sleeplessness, a person‟s motor performance is comparable to that of someone who is drunk. Curiously, surgeons who believe that operating under the influence of alcohol is grounds for sacking often don‟t think twice about operating without enough sleep.
“ I could tell you horror stories, ” says Jaya Agrawal, president of the American Medical Student Association, which runs a website for residents. Some are terrifying. “I was operating after being up for over 36 hours, “ one writes. “ I literally fell asleep standing up and nearly planted my face into the wound.”
“ Practically every surgical resident I know has fallen asleep at the wheel driving home from work,” writes another. “I know of three who have hit parked cars. Another hit a „ Jersey gate‟ on the New Jersey Expressway, going 105km/h.”
“Your own patients have become the enemy,” writes a third, because they are “the one thing that stands between you and a few hours of sleep.”
The U.S. controls the hours of pilots and truck drivers. But until such a system is in place for doctors, patients are on their own. If you‟re worried about the people treating you or a loved one, you should feel free to ask how many hours of sleep they have had and if more rested staffers are available.
1.Sleep is a funny thing because ____________.
A. the longer one sleeps, the less sound sleep he gets
B. the more sleep one gets, the more likely a stroke occurs
C. many people stick to about eight hours of sleep to stay fine
D. many people who sleep six hours a night still feel energetic in the day
2.A surgeon who has worked 40 hours in a row without sleep ___________.
A. can still provide quality medical care
B. will remain alert because he is used to it
C. may ignore the potential risk of insufficient sleep
D. should be fired if he continues the medical operation
3.According to one resident, they are short of sleep because ____________.
A. they are too tired to fall asleep
B. they are forbidden to sleep at work
C. they are kept by treating their patients
D. they are too worried about oversleeping
4.They resident who hit a “Jersey gate” on the New Jersey Expressway must have________.
A. fallen asleep
B. drunk too much
C. been driving too long
D. avoided hitting parked cars
5.Patients are now advised to __________.
A. monitor the hours of doctors by themselves
B. make sure that the doctors who treat them have had enough sleep
C. ask for legal control of the hours of doctors
D. allow their doctors to sleep several hours before the operation