I remember at least one episode of ER that addressed that problem here in the US.

It's a serious issue, it seems.

How about we quit making them work for days straight? Isnt there a way to rotate them a bit more so they have time off each night to sleep?

Paramedics work on 24 hrs shifts. Sometimes with no sleep.

I can work 16 hrs a day for days on end. On little sleep.

Seems people who are in important life and death jobs have crappy hours.

I'll defer to TM, as she's actually in the business of saving lives, and knows way better than me, but I think one of the factors involved, at least from my experiences in the VA system, (and from watching hospital dramas {is there a "cringe" emoticon?}) is that interns (and I would suppose nurses) are routinely expected to work unreasonable hours in their shifts, I would suppose, in the spirit of "toughening them up" for crisis periods, but they both end up doing most of the actual work, overall, then either fully joining the staff, or getting put off to find another job, or start their own practice. Meanwhile, a whole batch of new interns comes in, and the cycle rotates.

I may be completely talking out of my ass here, but that at least seems close.

You nailed it.

He sure did. When I worked as a floor nurse, I can't even count the number of doubles I worked. The shift coordinator would ask in her most pleadingest voice... it was almost impossible to say no.

I just had the thought that, of the many initialisms referring to the VA medical system here in LA, one could form the general acronym LAVA.

That about sums it up for me. Here I stand, my health care covered by LAVA.