Medical interns and the car accident risk

Studies show that medical interns working long shifts, often into the small hours of the morning, double their risk of a car accident when driving home from the hospital.

First-year doctors in training or medical interns working shifts of longer than 24 hours are more than twice as likely to have a car crash leaving the hospital and are five times as likely to have a "near miss" incident while they're on the road as medical interns working shorter shifts.

An American analysis of extended work shifts and the risk of car accidents among medical interns is the third in a series of studies on the impact of extended working hours and fatigue in medical establishments.

Lack of sleep and nourishment both contribute to an inability to focus and work properly and to drive carefully, contributing to car accidents. There seems to be a globally accepted practice of doctors and nurses working around the clock, often up to 80 hours a week.

In the States in particular, the non-stop demands of working culture mean that people are becoming increasingly more driven and often work through the night in order to meet the demands of their work schedule.

The research from the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School revealed road accident information from 3,000 interns from medical institutions around the country. They were asked to record work hours, frequency of shifts of more than 24 hours and driving safety records including car accidents and near-miss road traffic accidents causing personal injuries and other sleep-affected incidents over the course of a year.

The study showed that the majority of interns routinely worked more than 30 consecutive hours and were awake 96 % of the time they were at the hospital. The impact of fatigue was 320 car accidents over a year, including 133 resulting in treatment or emergency room procedures.

For more information on sleep deprivation and safety, go to www.cdc.gov.

Car accident compensation claim
Car accidents happen roughly every two minutes and professionals who drive frequently (like estate agents) or who work extremely long hours (like medical interns) are often most at risk.

No matter how good a driver you are, you always run the risk of having a car accident due to poor driving habits, poor road conditions and bad weather. If you have experienced a road traffic accident through no fault of your own, you may feel entitled to recoup your losses and to make a compensation claim.

Car Accident Advice Line can give you free legal advice and you'll benefit from the expertise of our panel of highly trained and sympathetic personal injury solicitors who have an excellent success rate.

We guarantee that you won't have to pay us anything at all and you can even keep 100 % of any damages awarded.

To find out how we can help you to make a car accident claim for personal injury compensation, request a call back via our online form or call us any time of the day or night on 0808 143 43 42.