The Institute of Medicine study finds that if your doctor is burned out, it can result in major medical errors, which has led to roughly 100,000 to 200,000 deaths per year.
Medical Expert Dr. John Roland said medical emergencies occur at all hours of the night and smaller facilities, where there's a limited number of specialists, might push a doctor to pull multiple nearly all-nighters.
“And it really messes with the adrenal glands and causes fatigue and it really can make you sick, and you’re not at your best when you’re that way,” said Roland.
Roland said new doctors need to learn how to manage hours at work and hours at home.
He sees the future of medicine won't just be prescribing medicine.
“I think the new medical model, the future of medicine, is going to be counseling people on their lifestyle, and their diet and those high-risk things that we do,” said Roland.
He said preventing physician burnout...is not something doctors have been good at providing a medical model for themselves or their patients.
Roland said he’s seen two good models called "functional medicine" or "integrative medicine”, and encourages people to look at the studies of Dr. Terry Wahls -University of Iowa and Dr. Dale Bredeson-UCLA, which by using these techniques have reversed the course of MS and dementia.
Roland believes limits need to be placed on how many hours a doctor works, like pilots and truck drivers, and may need to turn to legislative regulations to control that.