Clinicians tout benefits of proposed ACGME duty-hours increase

The debate over the working hours of physicians in training is heating up as requests for public comment on a new proposal that would increase the length of a shift that first-year residents are permitted to work by 12 hours closes next week.The proposal from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education would increase the length of each shift a first-year resident is allowed to work from 16 hours to 24 hours, plus an additional 4 hours to “manage transitions in care, promote professionalism, empathy and commitment.” However, first-year residents would still only be permitted to work 80-hour weeks. If implemented, the proposal would change the 16-hour limit the ACGME had approved in 2011. At the time, the consensus was that very junior learners would benefit from a more supported and regulated learning environment, according to a document published by the ACGME.