Fatigue Risk Management: The Impact of Anesthesiology Residents' Work Schedules on Job Performance and a Review of Potential Countermeasures

The bottom line

Long duty periods and overnight call degrade vigilance, psychomotor performance, and mood through three compounding mechanisms — sleep loss, circadian misalignment, and sleep inertia — so no single countermeasure fully protects a fatigued clinician. Microbreaks and strategic naps stand out as the most practical intra-shift defenses leaders can operationalize now. Some of this evidence is extrapolated from non-anesthesia populations, so local validation matters.

What the source found

Synthesized evidence from 126 references showing long duty periods and overnight call measurably impair vigilance, psychomotor function, alertness, and mood; identified sleep loss, circadian misalignment, and sleep inertia as independently compounding impairment; microbreaks and strategic naps identified as most practical intra-shift countermeasures.

Limitations and applicability

Narrative review; large reference set covers heterogeneous study designs; some evidence extrapolated from non-anesthesia populations.

Population and setting

Anesthesiology residents and anesthesia providers

Used in FairShare guides

• Why On-Time Break Relief Is a Patient-Safety Issue in Anesthesia
• Anesthesia Burnout Runs on Six Drivers — and Workload Is Only One of Them

About this evidence

Research question / practical issue

How does this source inform Break Relief, Fatigue, and Safe Handoffs and Understanding Anesthesia Burnout for the population it studied?

Study design, evidence tier, and source class

Peer Reviewed Narrative Review · synthesis source · evidence tier 1

Source type: Peer Reviewed Narrative Review · synthesis · Evidence tier 1

Topics: Break Relief, Fatigue, and Safe Handoffs, Understanding Anesthesia Burnout

Audience: Anesthesiologists, CRNAs, Residents