Resident duty hour limits: recommendations by the IOM and the response from the radiology community.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) set duty hour limits across all specialties nationally in 2003 to promote safe patient care and resident well-being. At the request of Congress, the Institute of Medicine studied the issue of patient safety and resident work hours and recently issued a report calling for further restrictions on resident duty hours, better resident supervision, and new federal oversight of the ACGME in monitoring resident duty hours. The authors review the history behind the current ACGME requirements, outline the Institute of Medicine's recommendations, and report on the response from the radiology community.