The group that sets the rules for medical residents proposed scrapping the 16-hour limit for interns, doctors in their first year of on-the-job training after finishing medical school. The new rule would let these new doctors work for as many as 28 hours at a stretch.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education proposed the change based on research that found that the relaxed rule wouldn’t increase risks for patients, officials say. In fact, the ACGME says, the longer work hours could make patient care safer and would also improve medical training by giving young doctors more realistic experience.
“Just as drivers learn to drive under supervision in real life on the road, residents must prepare in real patient-care settings for the situations they will encounter after graduation,” said Dr. Thomas Nasca, ACGME’s chief executive officer, in a written statement announcing the proposed change.
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Image: By Shanghai killer whale – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18546351
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