The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has approved a set of standards for medical resident duty hours, which among other requirements limit the shifts of first-year residents to 16 hours, according to an ACGME news release.
The standards retain the current duty hour limit of 80 hours per week, averaged over four weeks, but specify more detailed directives for levels of supervision necessary for a first-year resident. The standards also reduce duty periods of first-year residents to no more than 16 hours a day and set stricter requirements for duty hour exceptions.
The standards will apply to approximately 111,000 residents at ACGME-accredited institutions and will go into effect in July 2011. They were based on recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine in 2008 and evidence collected during a 16-month review of the scientific literature on sleep issues, patient safety and resident training.
Other changes include include:
• Establishing graduated requirements for minimum time off between scheduled duty periods;
• Expanding program and institutional requirements regarding handovers of patient care;
• Setting more specific requirements for alertness management and fatigue mitigation strategies designed to ensure both continuity of patient care and resident safety.
View the new ACGME standards.
Read more coverage on graduate medical education:
- Teaching Hospitals Face New Round of Duty Hour Restrictions on Residents
The standards retain the current duty hour limit of 80 hours per week, averaged over four weeks, but specify more detailed directives for levels of supervision necessary for a first-year resident. The standards also reduce duty periods of first-year residents to no more than 16 hours a day and set stricter requirements for duty hour exceptions.
The standards will apply to approximately 111,000 residents at ACGME-accredited institutions and will go into effect in July 2011. They were based on recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine in 2008 and evidence collected during a 16-month review of the scientific literature on sleep issues, patient safety and resident training.
Other changes include include:
• Establishing graduated requirements for minimum time off between scheduled duty periods;
• Expanding program and institutional requirements regarding handovers of patient care;
• Setting more specific requirements for alertness management and fatigue mitigation strategies designed to ensure both continuity of patient care and resident safety.
View the new ACGME standards.
Read more coverage on graduate medical education:
- Teaching Hospitals Face New Round of Duty Hour Restrictions on Residents