D1 had 24 shifts her intern year because her residency program was part of the study on increased work hours. She said you get used to them.
The data on the increase in the number of patients “falling through the cracks” is real and there has been an increase in the number of errors in patient treatment/management. There has been a lot of system failures with the shorter shifts.
D1 just had one her cases sent to M&M this year, not because of some sort of failure or mistake on her part (her tentative diagnosis was actually correct–and it was a zebra not a horse), but because the patient–and D1’s treatment orders–weren’t not followed up on after she left and the patient now suffers from permanent brain damage and a lifelong major disability.