Influence of sleep deprivation on learning among surgical house staff and medical students.

BACKGROUND: Sleep deprivation as a result of in-house night call may alter capacity to learn. Surgical residents and medical students, in both sleep-deprived and rested states, read surgical journal articles and later answered questions regarding their content as a measure of ability to learn while participating in scheduled night call. METHODS: Medical students (n = 35) and residents (n = 21) rotating on surgical services kept logs of hours slept during a 4-week study period. Subjects read six selected articles at separate early morning sittings during weeks 1 and 3. A multiple choice test was given 1 week after each session to assess short-term recall, and all tests were given again 3 months later to assess retention of information over the longer term. Scores were compared with the sleep data. Subjective measures of fatigue and motivation elicited from subjects also were evaluated. RESULTS: Sleep deprivation (4 hours or less uninterrupted sleep per night) resulted in increased fatigue and decreased motivation among medical students and residents (p < 0.05, t test). Objective scores on tests administered 1 week and 3 months after reading did not show an effect attributable to sleep deprivation (p > 0.05, t test). CONCLUSIONS: Sleep deprivation leads to subjective feelings of increased fatigue and decreased motivation. Residents and medical students, however, whether sleep deprived or not, obtain comparable scores on objective tests measuring both short-term and long-term retention of newly learned material. The ability to learn medically relevant information does not appear to be significantly altered by the degree of sleep deprivation associated with clinical rotations on surgical services.

Remedial education: can this doctor be saved?

In the first two years of the program 30 physicians have completed the program. A list of the distribution of specialties/practice areas [table: see text] served is provided in Table 1. The data reveal that the distribution of practice areas corresponds approximately to the distribution of physicians practicing in the state. The UF C.A.R.E.S Program provides a great benefit to physicians and their patients. It provides an atmosphere of professional collaboration and encouragement to address specific educational needs and underscores a commitment to providing continuing medical education, meaningful doctor-to-doctor collaboration, better patient care, and reflects a medical model of diagnosis and treatment of specific problems.

Are adolescents getting smarter about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome? Changes in knowledge and attitude over the past 5 years.

A survey was administered to 1543 adolescents from southeastern Wisconsin to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and persons with the disease. Responses were compared with those of other studies involving adolescents using identical or similar test items. Results of the study demonstrate that knowledge of AIDS and of the modes of human immunodeficiency virus transmission have increased dramatically over the past 5 years. Ninety-eight percent of high school students in this study understood the modes of transmission and that merely touching a person with AIDS will not transmit the virus. However, results also revealed that many negative biases remain toward people who have been infected with human immunodeficiency virus. Forty-five percent of the students believed that homosexuals and intravenous drug users were "getting what they deserve." Recommendations are made that future educational efforts focus on changes in attitudes and behaviors in relation to adolescents' previously acquired knowledge of AIDS.