A prospective observational study of sleep patterns and work-related communications during home call for a pediatric surgery fellow

Objective A pediatric surgery fellow is often regarded as a cornerstone of an academic children's hospital due to the need for their clinical services with overnight coverage being an important aspect of the care provided. There is little known about the objective sleep patterns and work-related communications of a pediatric surgery fellow during overnight home call. The aim of this study is to better understand the sleep patterns and interruptions of an on-call pediatric surgery fellow. Design A prospective observational study of 60 call nights and 60 non-call nights of a pediatric surgery senior fellow was performed from September 2022 to February 2023. Setting An academic Children's Hospital. Participant An ACGME-accredited clinical pediatric surgery fellow. Results On average, the pediatric surgery fellow spent 6.9 and 5.8 total hours in bed and asleep each night, respectively. The total sleep time was less for call nights compared to non-call nights (5.4 versus 6.3 h, p < 0.0001). The mean number of work-related communications per 12-hour night shift was four. The majority of communications were regarding new consults (63.8 %). The pediatric surgery fellow spent an average of 5.9 min per communication and approximately 23.8 min total during each 12-hour night shift. Approximately half of these communications occurred during sleep hours. Conclusions This study reveals overall sleep duration was below recommended levels. There were significant alterations in sleep patterns during call nights. Work-related communications further compounded sleep disturbances. Further research and interventions in this area are warranted.