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From BainBlogger:

The 80 hour work week is a relatively new limitation for resident physicians in training. This rule was put into effect a few years ago to prevent sleep deprivation among physicians in training. The rule was meant to curtail medical errors such as incorrect prescriptions, wrong procedures, or any time of malpractice that is more likely to occur when a physician does not have enough sleep. Some of us trained in medicine at a time when there were no work hour restrictions. 100 plus hour work weeks were a norm. Taking call every night or every other night was standard. It was felt that continuous care of patients would train the physician in continuous medicine. Residency programs produced fatigued but well trained physicians.