Duty Hours


 

ACGME Duty Hours Rules

 

Proposed changes from CORD BOD and clarification:

 

From: Saadia Akhtar [mailto:sakhtar@chpnet.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2016 3:21 PM
To: cord@listserv.cordem.org
Cc: Saadia Akhtar
Subject: [MARKETING] EM Program Requirements

 

Dear CORD Collective, 

Our organization recently received a request from the EM RRC to provide suggested changes to the EM Program Requirements. The changes should be clear and focused with exact wording for the suggested changes and need to be submitted in a relatively short period of time. The CORD BOD is focusing on the following points as suggestions: 

 

DUTY HOURS SUGGESTIONS (DUTY ON):

 

VI.E.1.b).(1) Duty hours comprise all clinical duty time and conferences, whether spent within or outside the residency program, including all on-call hours. 

 

Change to:

VI.E.1.b).(1) Duty hours comprise all scheduled clinical duty time and conferences, whether spent within or outside the residency program, including all on-call hours. Scheduled sick call or back-up call is not considered in the calculation of duty hours, unless the resident is called in to work a duty period. The duty period begins at the time the resident reports for duty. Time spent not actively taking care of patients should not be included in duty hour calculations.

 

VI.E.1. When emergency medicine residents are on emergency medicine rotations, the following standards apply: (Core)

 

Change to:

VI.E.1. When emergency medicine residents or those residents rotating from other departments are on emergency medicine rotations, the following standards apply: (Core)

 

DUTY HOURS SUGGESTIONS (DUTY OFF):

 

VI.E.1.c) Emergency medicine residents must have one day (24-hour period) free per each seven-day period. This cannot be averaged over a four-week period. (Core)

 

Change to:

VI.E.1.c) Emergency medicine residents must have one day (24-hour period) free per each seven-day period. This can be averaged over a four-week period, but there must not be a period greater than 10 consecutive days of duty without a 24 hour period free of duty. (Core)  

 

VI.G.3. Mandatory Time Free of Duty

Residents must be scheduled for a minimum of one day free of duty every week (when averaged over four weeks). At-home call cannot be assigned on these free days. (Core)

 

Change to:

VI.G.3. Mandatory Time Free of Duty

Residents must be scheduled for a minimum of one day free of duty every week (when averaged over four weeks). At-home call, sick call or back-up call cannot be assigned on these free days.  (Core)

 

CONFERENCE SUGGESTIONS:

 

IV.A.3.c).(5) Residents must actively participate, on average, in at least 70 percent of the planned didactic experiences offered. (Core)

 

Suggestion to establish an FAQ for this requirement as below:

 

FAQ

Programs determine their own denominator to calculate expected attendance in planned didactic experiences for their residents. 

 

Programs may include educational activities such as attendance at regional and national EM conferences, certification and recertification courses (e.g. BLS, ACLS, PALS, ATLS), attendance at off-service rotation didactics, or attendance at professional development courses as either planned didactics or individualized interactive instruction experiences depending on the needs of the learner and expectations of the program.