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United States limits resident physicians to 80 hour working week

BMJ 2003; 326 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7387.468/b (Published 01 March 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;326:468
  1. Janice Hopkins Tanne
  1. New York

    From 1 July 2003, the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education will limit the work of the United States's almost 100 000 resident physicians in 7800 programmes to 80 hours a week. Shifts are never to last more than 24 hours, and residents will have one day off in seven and get a 10 hour break between being on call and working a shift.

    Resident groups and the consumer advocate group Public Citizen called the new rules deeply flawed. They say that they are unlikely to be adequately enforced, because they do not have the force of law. Some groups would like to see federal legislation introduced, but the last attempt to do so failed in the last session of Congress.

    The issue of regulating …

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