Duty Hours
Duty Hours Rationale
In June 2002, the Accreditation council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) granted preliminary approval to new duty hour standards for residency programs. In July 2003, these standards become a requirement for all residencies in all specialties to maintain accredited status.
The ACGME standards emphasize the responsibilities of programs, sponsoring institutions, and the accrediting body (ACGME) relating to safe patient care and an appropriate learning environment for residents.
The recommended mechanisms to achieve these goals include the following:
- a set of common requirements that define a minimum standard that must be met by all accredited programs;
- enhance requirements for institutional oversight and support;
- strengthening the system for compliance.
The standards address three areas:
- placing appropriate limits on duty hours;
- promoting institutional oversight;
- and fostering high-quality education and safe patient care.
The UCSF Resident Work Hours Improvement Project (RWHIP) was approved by vote of the Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC) on March 16, 2001. This followed a year – long effort which was in response to the report of a large Taskforce on Resident Work Hours. Represented on the Taskforce and on the RWHIP Committee were residents, students, faculty, program directors, program coordinators, hospital administration, and the Dean’s office.
There are both practical and idealistic reasons to seek improvements in resident work hours at UCSF:
- to ensure the highest standards for deliver of patient care;
- to enhance the integrity of resident education;
- to maintain the competitiveness of UCSF with respect to other residency programs for outstanding residents;
- to satisfy ACGME requirements regarding resident training hours.
If you feel you or your program are in violation of these limitations or have questions about them, please contact:
500 Parnassus Avenue, MU 250 East
San Francisco, CA 94143-0474
Telephone: (415) 476-4562