Colorectal Surgery Resident Manual

INSTITUTIONAL POLICY FOR RESIDENT DUTY HOURS

The Graduate Medical Education Committee insures that individual training programs remain in compliance with their Residency Review Committee (RRC) Duty Hour Requirements through the following processes:

1. Residents must be provided with adequate opportunities to rest and sleep when on duty for 24 hours or more.  On-call rooms to permit rest and privacy must be available for each resident on night duty in the hospital.
2. The educational goals and objectives of the program and the resident learning objectives must not be compromised by excessive reliance on residents to fulfill service obligations.  Duty hours, however, must reflect the fact that responsibility for continuing patient care is not automatically discharged at specific times.  Programs must ensure adequate backup support when patient care responsibilities are difficult or prolonged.
3. Resident duty hours and on-call periods must not be excessive.  The structuring of duty hours and on-call schedules must focus on the needs of the patient, continuity of care, and the educational needs of the resident.  Duty hours must be consistent with ACGME Requirements.  The program director is responsible for monitoring resident activities to ensure that resident fatigue does not contribute to diminished learning or performance or detract from patient safety.
4. The individual contract for every resident will include the specific ACGME duty hour requirements.  This makes compliance with the duty hour requirements a contractual obligation to every resident.
5. This policy shall apply to residents and fellows in both accredited and non-accredited training programs.
6. Compliance with this Duty Hour Policy will be monitored in the following ways:
7. New Innovations Duty Hour Violation Reports can be generated at any time by each program to assist in monitoring resident and fellow duty hours. The Office of Residency Affairs will regularly generate reports for all residents and fellows for review by the GMEC.
8. Residents may report concerns related to duty hours by completing and submitting a confidential duty hour complaint via the Residency Affairs web site, or by contacting the Designated Institutional Officer (DIO) or their delegate on the House Staff Board of Directors.
9. Any reports of concerns related to duty hours or excessive institutional service obligations (scut work) will be promptly addressed with the program so that compliance can be assured at all times.
10. Internal Reviews of the programs will always address work hour issues.
11. End of year evaluation will address work hour issues.
12. The DIO will report annually on compliance with ACGME duty hour requirements to the medical staff and governing body of each major participating JCAHO accredited hospital.

Approved by the GMEC April 1, 2002
Amended and approved by GMEC on November 8, 2002
Amended and approved by the GMEC on March 21, 2003
Revised and Adopted by GMEC on November 16, 2007

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