The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a report recommending that further measures be taken to ensure that hospitals provide safer conditions for both patients and resident trainees, according to a news release by The National Academies

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has issued a report recommending that further measures be taken to ensure that hospitals provide safer conditions for both patients and resident trainees, according to a news release by The National Academies .

The IOM report proposes revisions to the duty hours and workloads of medical residents, or doctors in training, in order to decrease the likelihood of fatigue-related medical errors and to enhance the learning environment for residents. Although the report does not call for a reduction in the maximum average of 80 work hours per week established by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in 2003, it does recommend a reduction in the maximum number of hours that residents can work without time for sleep to 16, increases the number of days residents must have off, and restricts moonlighting during residents' off-hours.

The report also calls for greater resident supervision by senior physicians, limits on patient loads, and overlaps in resident schedules during shift changes to reduce the chances for medical error when patient care is transferred between doctors. In addition to these changes, the report also highlights potential barriers to these recommendations - namely, financial costs and insufficient health care workforce resources. Therefore, the IOM is also calling for additional funding for teaching hospitals to implement the recommended changes.

Resident Duty Hours: Enhancing Sleep, Supervision and Safety: Committee on Optimizing Graduate Medical Trainee (Resident) Hours and Work Schedules to Improve Patient Safety. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2008.

Source

N Engl J Med. 2008;359:2417-2428.