Night Shifts Result in Significant Decreases in Attention, Speed, Complex Reasoning in Radiology Residents

Background: In radiology, delays in diagnosis can arise from errors in perception and/or errors in interpretation and these errors can be exacerbated by physician fatigue. Although traditional 24- to 36-hour medical call shifts, which have been associated with physician fatigue and higher risk for adverse events, are rare in radiology, night-float shifts are often used. Recent studies suggest that night-float shiftwork may also have a negative effect on cognitive abilities and psychomotor skills but many of these studies have been limited by small sample sizes and study design, making the cognitive impact of overnight shiftwork unclear. Also, additional studies have shown increases in radiology error rates during overnight shifts and in false negatives, and longer times to make the finding at the end of night-float shifts but none of these studies were able to evaluate decreases in individual components of cognition. In the current study, the authors used Lumosity NeuroCognitive Perf more...