Policy on Duty Hours - University of Michigan



Policy on Duty Hours

University of Michigan Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency

1. Duty Hours

a. Duty hours are defined as all clinical and academic activities related to the residency program, i.e., patient care (both inpatient and outpatient), administrative duties related to patient care, the provision for transfer of patient care, time spent in the hospital during call activities such as conferences. Duty hours do not include reading and preparation time spent away from the duty site.

b. The obstetrics and gynecology residency complies with the duty hour regulations of the ACGME:

• Duty hours are limited to 80 hours per week, averaged over a four-week period, inclusive of all in hospital call activities.

• Residents are provided with 1 day in 7 free from all educational and clinical responsibilities, averaged over a 4-week period, inclusive of call. One day is defined as one continuous 24-hour period free from all clinical, educational, and administrative activities.

• Adequate time for rest and personal activities is provided. This should consist of a 10 hour time period provided between all daily duty periods and after in hospital call.

c. Each resident must track their duty hours in MedHub on a weekly basis. Non-compliance with this area of responsibility will be deemed as unprofessional behavior on the part of the house officer and violation or the resident’s contract with the University of Michigan. Repeated failure to complete duty hour logs, despite attempts at remediation, could result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.

d. The institutional policy on Resident Duty Hours and the Working Environment can be accessed at:

2. On-Call Activities

The objective of on-call activities is to provide residents with continuity of patient care experiences throughout a 24-hour period.

a. In-hospital call is defined as those duty hours beyond the normal work day when residents are required to be immediately available.

• In hospital call occurs no more frequently than every third night, averaged over a four-week period.

• Continuous on-site duty, including in hospital call, does not exceed 24 consecutive hours. Residents may remain on duty for up to 6 additional hours to participate in didactic activities, transfer care of patients, conduct outpatient continuity clinics, and maintain continuity of medical and surgical care.

• No new patients may be accepted after 24 continuous hours on duty. A new patient is defined as any patient for whom the resident has not previously provided care.

b. At-home call (pager call) is defined as call taken from outside the assigned institution. There is no at-home call in the obstetrics and gynecology residency.

3. Oversight

a. The ACGME duty hour requirements are distributed to all residents and faculty. The Departmental duty hours policy is accessible on the residents’ web site.

b. The residents and faculty are educated in recognizing the signs of fatigue. Back-up support is available through the multiple faculty and residents on call if either the resident or faculty recognizes fatigue which would compromise patient care.

c. The program director monitors duty hours to ensure compliance using the MedHub system. Duty hour compliance reports are generated on a weekly basis through MedHub and reviewed by the program director. If areas of non-compliance are noted, the director of the service is notified so the work load can be adjusted to insure compliance averaged over 4 weeks.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download