2011 ACGME duty hour week proposal--a national survey of family medicine residents.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

In July 2010, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) published its proposed duty-hour regulations. We conducted a national online survey to assess current family medicine residents' perceptions of the proposed changes.

METHODS

A 27-question survey was used to assess four ACGME proposal domains: resident supervision, 80-duty-hour week, maximum duty-period length, and maximum frequency of in-hospital duty. Additionally, we surveyed opinions on reasonable weekly work hours, under-reporting practice, and residents' activities during hours off, residents' perceptions of their program's ability to comply with future duty-hour regulations, and their overall satisfactions. Members of the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD) were invited to send the survey Web link to their residents.

RESULTS

Out of 720 respondents, 30% supported revision of current duty-hour work rules; 58% disagreed with limiting interns' working hours to 16 hours per day; 48% perceived revision of resident supervision favorably; 26% expressed concern about continuing the current 80-duty-hour week rule; 75% supported limiting night duty to six consecutive nights; 83% agreed that reasonable resident weekly work hours should be 60-80 hours; and 18% admitted under-reporting of duty hours. Residents' hours off activities varied. Only 57% believed that their program will be able to implement the new changes effectively. Overall satisfaction with the future duty-hour rules were mixed: very satisfied (7%), satisfied (24%), somewhat satisfied (27%), unsatisfied (23%), and very unsatisfied (18%).

CONCLUSIONS

Support for the proposed ACGME duty-hour regulations was mixed among current family medicine residents. Respondents and residency program directors shared similar concerns about some of the recommended changes.