Hungover Surgeons Pose Risk for Patients

Partying all night is a bad option for surgeons with a new study showing that those doctors who have a hangover are at a greater risk of botching up surgeries even if their alcohol content in the blood is nil, Researchers from Royal College of Surgeons conducted the test on eight surgeons and 16 students and sent them for a night out. All the surgeons and half of the students were made to drink as much alcohol as possible while the remaining eight students were not allowed to drink any alcohol.

All of the participants were then made to conduct a camera-guided surgery known as laparoscopy on a virtual reality system. The researchers found that those who had indulged in alcohol made an average of 19 errors compared to just eight by those who did not touch alcohol.

“Historically, the medical profession has had a reputation for high rates of alcohol consumption. It is likely that surgeons are unaware that next-day surgical performance may be compromised as a result of significant alcohol intake”, lead researcher Anthony Gallagher wrote in their report that has been published in the Archives of Surgery.


Source-Medindia