Abstract

Fatigue, acute and chronic sleep deprivation have been shown to influence medical resident’s social lives as well as professional lives, by Rosen, Papp and others, in Korea and USA. Medical residents’ work hours in KSA are intense and long, interfering with their sleep, and nighttime sleep disruption being characteristic of on call residents, leaving them susceptible to sleep deprivation.Our objective is to find the prevalence of sleep deprivation amongst medical interns and residents in KSA, grading it according to severity level and assess its impact on their performance. Survey with relevant questions in the form of online tests will be emailed to medical interns and residents from KFSH&RC Riyadh, assessing their mean sleep hours, level of sleep deprivation and any effect on performance, such as experiencing difficulty in learning, attention deficit and higher levels of stress and additionally compare it with their age, gender, year of training and academic standing. If survey indicates potential impact on professional development, as well as threat posed to the delicate nature of the job of an intern, then the ministry of health can take significant steps to impose restrictions on the maximum amount of working hours allowed per week.