By: Jessica Rizzo
I am writing this blog while listening to audio book about self care. I have laundry going that needs to be switched and dinner is in the oven. I have a zoom call in about 12 minutes. This is modern life...multi-tasking and overlap. I was trying to research how sleep affects our study and work habits and whether there's an optimum amount of sleep needed to retain info and be clear thinking. And that's when I stumbled on this study. (Link below.)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
Although it was not what I was looking for exactly it led me to another rabbit hole of thinking: how are residents spending their time?
In a 24 hour period, how many hours are delegated to what? And are they being utilized to their full advantage?
This study broke down the residents' week and how many hours were dedicated to sleep, being in clinic or OR hours and, of course, study time.
The study was conducted at two hospitals. Each hospital having two services that participated and tracked their 24 hour daily log over a 4 week period. Rather than put the whole article here verbatim I will hit the highlights.
The Residents slept an average of 5.9 hr per night--less when on call. Operating and direct patient care activities consumed 8.7 hr per day. Patient care activities not directly requiring a physician accounted for 1.5 hr per day. An average of 1.8 hr per day was spent in study/lecture.
So what was interesting to me is the actual hours broken down didn't match up with what the residents perceived themselves to be doing. The study also recommended within your own program or life to replicate this survey and see how time is being spent. Give yourself the opportunity to make changes.
If this is at all accurate for most residents, that does not leave much time for study. Also in a 24 hour day, this leaves about 6 hours not designated...which I assume is made up of grooming, eating, personal time and commute.
I don't know about the rest, but I do know that when it comes to studying for the ABSITE you have an option to learn and study with a program that gives you access across multiple platforms. So that's anytime/anywhere. And it doesn't require going to a lecture hall. Seems like a great way to utilize that limited time...so do it!
#ABSITESMACKDOWN