New cap on hours for young physicians may not be the final prescription - News that Works - Brief Article

HR Magazine, August, 2002 by Ann Pomeroy

Despite a medical organization's recent mandate designed to cap young doctors' hours on the job, some advocates of federal regulation to restrict work hours for medical interns and residents vow to press the issue with Congress.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) set an 80-hour limit on resident workweeks and ordered 10hour rest periods between shifts and one day 4 off per week. In addition, the rules restrict moonlighting and call for closer faculty supervision.

Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, director of the Health o Research Group, a division of the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization Public Citizen, said his organization will still push for federal rules. "Self-regulation doesn't work," he said. "There is no reason to think they [ACGME] will succeed in enforcing the tighter standards" better than they have enforced previous standards.

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), who introduced legislation last November to reduce residents' hours, applauds the ACGME's action but says federal oversight is still necessary. "Medicare spends $8 billion a year on residency programs," Conyers says. "We must have accountability."

Concern about how young doctors' long work schedules and sleep deprivation might affect their well-being, their medical judgments and the treatment of their patients was covered in an HR Magazine article, "The Doctor Is Still In," February 2002.

The ACGME said that starting next July it will begin imposing sanctions on hospitals that violate the standards.

Dr. Jordan J. Cohen, president of the Association of American Medical Colleges, said his organization will "explore the effects this new policy may have on teaching hospitals' faculty and work with our institutions to manage any economic impact.

The new national requirements are similar to the "Bell Regulations" adopted in 1989 by New York, the only state that has a law regulating work hours for medical residents.

In April 2001, Public Citizen; the American Medical Student Association in Reston, Va.; and the New York-based Committee of Interns and Residents, a union representing more than 10,000 residents, filed a joint petition with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration urging it to adopt federal regulations limiting residents' hours.

Ann Pomeroy Managing editor of newsletters for SHRM Professional Emphasis Groups