B.01 Impact of work-hours and sleep on well-being and burnout for physicians-in-training: the prospective RATE Study

Abstract

Background: Wearable activity trackers are an innovative tool for measuring sleep and physical activity. The Resident Activity Tracker Evaluation (RATE) is a prospective observational study evaluating the impact of work-hours, sleep, and physical activity on resident well-being, burnout, and job satisfaction. Methods: Residents were recruited from: 1. general surgery and orthopedics (SURG), 2. internal medicine and neurology (MED) and 3. anesthesia and radiology (RCD). Groups 1 and 2 do not enforce on-call duration restrictions and group 3 had 12-hour restricted-call durations (RCD). Participants wore FitBit activity trackers for 14 days and completed four validated surveys assessing self-reported health, sleepiness, burnout, and job satisfaction. Results: Fifty-nine residents completed the study. 778 days of activity and 244 on-call periods were tracked. Surgical residents worked 24 more hours per week than non-surgical residents (84.3 vs 60.7). Surgical residents had 7 less hours of sleep per week and reported significantly higher Epworth Sleepiness scores. Nearly two-thirds of participants (61%) scored high burnout on the Maslach depersonalization subscore. Total steps per day and self-reported well-being, burnout, and job satisfaction were comparable between the groups. Conclusions: Despite a positive correlation between work-hours and sleepiness, burnout and well-being were similar among residents. Physical activity did not prevent burnout. These findings are relevant to work-hours policies.