New Resident Doctors Could Stay In Hospitals For Whole 24-Hour Shifts, Is This Beneficial Or Prejudicial?

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medication Education (ACGME) announced they are now allowing new resident doctors to be in hospitals for straight 24-hour shifts. The new resident doctors pertained to those who are in their first year.

The 24-hour shift allowed by ACGME is eight hours more than the current limit for doctors. However, that is accompanied with the restriction that a resident doctor on his or her first year could only work 80 hours a week and per shift could stretch as long as 24 hours. The new rule will be permissible starting July 1 this year.

Under the current rule, new resident doctors are allowed to work with the maximum 16 hours per shift. Initially, resident doctors who are training to be professional doctors could consume 24 hours per shift but the ACGME cut it down to 16 due to concerns raised regarding patients taken care of possibly suffering from negligence or malpractice due to trainees being too tired, AJC.com reported.

ACGME's chief executive officer, Dr. Tomas Nasca, released a statement regarding the reinstatement of the 24-hour rule saying, "At the heart of the new requirements is the philosophy that residency education must occur in a learning and working environment that fosters excellence in the safety and quality of care delivered to patients both today and in the future." The council changed the rule after doctors wondered if the 16-hour cap did improve patient's safety after they contended more medical errors could occur because patients are monitored by more medical staffers. The review on the 16-hour cap started in 2015, CBN News reported.

Those doctors who completed their year-long training as resident doctors were allowed to work 24-hour shifts. Doctors explained the 16-hour cap does not work well because they wanted to be there if their patients needed them.

What is your take on the reinstatement of the 24-hour shift rule for first-year resident doctors? Let us know what you think below!