MMA-2. Effect of resident work hour restrictions on medical student work hours.

The American Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) mandated specific work hour limitations for all residents beginning in July 2003. There has been concern that the limit in resident hours will increase medical student hours while decreasing their education. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of the recent work hour regulations on student training. A survey was mailed to all the medical student deans. The survey consisted of questions about the impact of resident work hour restrictions on medical student education, medical errors and patient quality of care. Finally, each school was asked whether they have any existing written work hours guidelines for their medical students. This study is IRB approved. The response rate was 67%; 43% of deans disagreed that the regulations will improve medical student education. Some deans felt that the regulations will improve quality of care for patients (37%). Nearly half of deans (48%) felt that the regulations will decrease medical errors and were in favor of the new regulations (48%). When asked about the changes on medical students hours, 5% noted increased hours, 19% decreased hours and 76% same hours. When asked about medical student teaching by residents, 60% noted a decrease. When asked about the teaching by attendings, 16% noted an increase, 18% decrease and 66% stayed the same. The average number of hours third year students work per week is 62 but the range is 30 to 100 hours. Few deans noted that the administration had written work hours guidelines; 83% have no written guidelines, however 6% of these noted plans to create written guidelines. At this point in time, the recent resident work hour restrictions have had mixed results on medical student education. Most medical schools do not have written guidelines for clinical rotation hours.

Robin R. Hemphill, MD, Sally A. Santen, MD, and Claire A. Turchi MSII.