PHILADELPHIA, June 23 (UPI) -- The learning ability and performance of medical residents are not affected by the amount of sleep they get the night before, U.S. researchers reported.
"We tested the efficacy of our laboratory model for teaching the technically challenging surgical skills of minimally invasive surgery," said Dr. Harsh Grewal, an associate professor of surgery at Temple University and a pediatric surgeon at the school's Children's Medical Center.
"We found that the amount of sleep the night before had no significant effect on their learning or performance," he said in a statement.
Last year federal mandates reduced a resident's work week to a maximum of 80 hours because of concerns medical errors could be made on the account of fatigue and sleep deprivation.
With this new cap, many medical educators are turning to virtual training techniques and laboratories to ensure their students gain all the necessary skills.
More research is needed about learning complex surgical procedures before applying the results to real-life situations, the researchers said.
