There are several articles in today's New York Times about work hours reform and some interesting discussion brewing on the comments section. It is the 25th anniversary of Libby Zion's death this week.
I have been wanting to write about work hours since there is a lot going on with the new IOM recommendations and the ACGME's response. But, ironically, I have been working too much to blog about it. So I'll let these articles wet your appetite and hopefully I can weigh in later this week on this rather controversial issue in medical education right now.
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2 comments:
The Internal Medicine program that I chose for residency is part of the EIP program. Supposedly, there are 17 or so programs across the country that are a part of this and therefore, we're allowed to kinda bend the normal ACGME rules. Our program has focused on work hours. Research shows that working more than 18 hours in a row is hazardous to both resident's health and the patient's safety. In my program, you're not allowed to work more than 16 hours and you're required to have at least 10 hours out of the hospital in between shifts. This was a MAJOR selling point for me when looking at IM programs. During med school, I suffered through 30 hour call for several months. After a night of call, it was difficult to even see or think straight, let alone get behind the wheel of a car and drive 20 minutes home. Now, even after 16 hours, sure, I'm tired...but it's manageable. Hopefully, more and more programs will limit work hours for residents - we've seen the catastrophic things that occur when we're overworked and sleep-deprived!
I actually had just heard about the EIP program recently. It is fantastic to hear that your program has been able to do this successfully. Hopefully, it can be a model for other programs to follow as the IOM recs are pondered by the powers that be...
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