Research Laboratories and Divisions

Overview

Founded in 2001, the Harvard Work Hours Health and Safety Group, is a multi-disciplinary collaborative whose mission is to investigate sleep and work practices among physicians, police officers, and other occupational groups, and implement strategies to improve the safety of patients, workers, and the general public.

The Harvard Work Hours Health and Safety Group collaboration has led to numerous endeavors, such as the Intern Sleep and Safety Study, funded by AHRQ, a national survey study of interns, as well as ongoing investigations funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control into the causes and consequences of sleep deprivation among police officers. The current program builds on the considerable research into patient safety and sleep deprivation that has been conducted by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and represents a synergistic merging of these fields to rigorously measure the effects of sleep deprivation and circadian factors on the incidence of serious medical errors and other on-the-job hazards.

References

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Laura Barger, PhD
Orfeu Buxton, PhD
Christopher Landrigan, MD MPH
Steven Lockley, PhD
Shantha M. W. Rajaratnam, PhD
Jeff Rothschild, MD MPH
Najib Ayas, MD MPH
John Cronin, MD