THE NIGHT FLOAT SYSTEM OF RESIDENT ON CALL - WHAT DO THE NURSES THINK

In 1989, the internal medicine residency training program at St. John' s Episcopal Hospital changed from a standard one-in-four on-call syste m to a night float system of resident on call, Using a confidential qu estionnaire that assessed the opinions of medical nurses, the nurses w ere asked which system they preferred, and how the change to a night n eat system of resident on call affected medical resident performance, A significant majority of the nurses preferred night float over a stan dard system of resident on call, Most nurses responded that because ni ght float allows residents to get more rest, residents make fewer mist akes and are easier to work with, Residents on night float were not co nsidered to be more knowledgeable. The responders indicated that night float did not create confusion about which resident to call for a pat ient problem.