Medical and Pharmaceuticals Industry News SampleJun 19, 2002 01:21:17
MEDICAL INDUSTRY: Proposed Work Limits For Medical Residents Criticized
FREDERICK, Maryland (SunStream News) -- The new limits that will prohibit residents from working longer than 80 hours a week, were announced last week by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The new limits also would ensure they get at least 10 hours of rest between shifts, and state they can’t be on duty for more than 24 hours straight. Probably, everyone thinks these limits are laudable, but even among those who think these limits would be a good thing, are some who say the limits are not feasible, they will create crises in the hospitals, according to a report by the Houston Chronicle. New national limits on the hours medical residents can work will, for example, leave Houston’s Ben Taub Hospital’s surgery unit in crisis, Chief of Staff Dr. Kenneth Mattox says. The rules which will take effect in July 2003, will reduce surgical staffing by a third and cause significant problems in patient treatment and continuity of care. Dr. Mattox said the change likely will require more manpower at the physician or faculty level. “I was up last night calculating the number of positions funded and the hours that will be allowed, and it was absolutely impossible to accomplish the math,” said Dr. Mattox, who is also chief surgeon at Ben Taub. The Council, which accredits 7,800 residency programs nation wide, said it will act quickly to sanction violators. Sanctions can include withdrawing accreditation, which costs institutions lost students and millions of dollars in federal funding. The limits were announced amid concern regarding medical errors in hospitals that some attribute to the long hours residents routinely work. Although some specialties already impose 80-hour limits, there is often no limit on residents’ schedules at many hospitals, and some doctors-in-training say they work as much as 120 hours a week. Into this largely unshaped debate rushed the residents. In May, 200,000 residents filed a class action in federal court, accusing seven medical associations and 35 teaching hospitals of rigging the system that determines where they go as residents, how much they are paid and how many hours they work. The class action, which approaches the problem through charges of market control (rigging the system) is still in the courts. However, the Accreditation Council’s quick response may alter support for the legal approach. Dr. Mattox said he thought the new limits will cause crises at hospitals around the country, like Ben Taub - underfunded public hospitals that treat the most serious trauma cases. He expressed skepticism toward data showing medical errors are a result of fatigue and said his hunch is the problem is a lack of continuity of care, which will get worse under the new rules. Dr. Maximillian Buja, dean of UT-Houston’s medical school and a member of the accrediting council’s board of directors, acknowledged the new rules will have a “definite financial impact on hospitals.” He however, claimed that is not the council’s concern, and added that the change will result in better-functioning residents and improved patient care. Dr. Major Bradshaw, dean of education at the Baylor College of Medicine, acknowledged that the rules might cause some problems, such as the staffing at Ben Taub’s emergency room, and could require solutions such as enrolling more residents.
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Source: Class Action Reporter
Publication Date: 2002-06-19
NWS: LBR LAW
IND: HEA MTC
GEO: n-us
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