Standard of care by doctors may drop with years spent in practice

Doctors may be less likely to deliver currently accepted standards of care and to provide technically appropriate care as the number of years they have spent in practice increases. These are the findings of a study that reviewed 59 previously published studies with a large sample size of doctors (Annals of Internal Medicine 2005;142: 260-73).

The studies included measures of doctors' knowledge or quality of care and the age of the doctor or the length of time since graduation from medical school. Just over three quarters (45) of the studies showed that a doctor's performance declined with time. More than half (32) showed that performance declined for all outcomes measured, while …