A recent international study from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and researchers in Israel found that sleep-deprived doctors show less empathy for patient distress and that this impression affects their prescribing behaviours. <br /><br />The findings of the research were published in the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'. Pain management is a major challenge, and a doctor's perception of a patient's subjective pain is susceptible to bias. <br /><br />Study demonstrated that night shift work is an important and previously unrecognized source of bias in pain management, likely stemming from impaired perception of pain.
