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Surgical training, duty-hour restrictions, and implications for meeting the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competencies: views of surgical interns compared with program directors.
Antiel RM, Van Arendonk K, Reed DA, et al. Surgical training, duty-hour restrictions, and implications for meeting the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competencies: views of surgical interns compared with program directors. Arch Surg. 2012;147(6):536-41. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2012.89.
The duty hour regulations for resident physicians implemented in 2011 were intended to improve patient safety by minimizing resident fatigue. Teaching faculty evinced skepticism about the effect of these regulations from the outset, mirroring the frosty reception given to the 2003 regulations. Even residents themselves—who the regulations are intended to benefit—doubt the rules will achieve their goal. The majority of surgical residents surveyed in this study believe the regulations will result in greater discontinuity and more fragmented patient care and will harm their overall educational experience. Another recent survey of residents in multiple specialties noted similar findings, with the majority of residents disapproving of the new regulations. A systematic review of the 2003 duty hour regulations found no overall improvement in patient safety or educational outcomes after the rules were implemented.
