Can being busy or tired affect how doctors treat patients?

Doctors’ care may sometimes be influenced less by what’s best for their patients and more by how they’re feeling in any given moment, according to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health student Abraar Karan, MPH ’17.

In a March 1, 2017 opinion piece in STAT, Karan wrote that factors like how much sleep doctors have had, how many hours they’ve worked, or how difficult they find their interaction with a patient could potentially affect the care they provide.

“In my work as a medical student, I came to realize that the care that doctors give their patients can often be influenced by non-clinical factors,” Karan wrote. “For instance, in the clinic and in the hospital, time and sleep often dictate how quickly or with what depth we see our patients.”

Karan said more research is needed into the effect of physician motivation on patient outcomes.

Read the STAT article: Do doctors’ other motivations, like the need for sleep, affect patient care?