Doctors Make Worse Decisions as the Day Wears On
Primary-care doctors’ likelihood of prescribing antibiotics for acute respiratory infections increased by 1% in their second hour of work, 14% in the third hour, and 26% in the fourth, suggesting that physicians experience “decision fatigue” over the course of a day, according to a New York Times report of an 18-month U.S. medical study.
Overprescription of antibiotics is a widespread phenomenon: In two-thirds of the cases studied by the researchers, antibiotics were prescribed even though they were not indicated, the Times says.
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