Dongseok Choi1, Jamie Dickey2, Kristen Wessel3 ,4 and Donald E Girard3
1Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
2Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
3Graduate Medical Education, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
4Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
Abstract
Background
To assess the impact of work hours' limitations required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) on residents' career satisfaction, emotions and attitudes.
Methods
A validated survey instrument was used to assess residents' levels of career satisfaction, emotions and attitudes before and after the ACGME duty hour requirements were implemented. The "pre" implementation survey was distributed in December 2002 and the "post" implementation one in December 2004. Only the latter included work-hour related questions.
Results
The response rates were 56% for the 2002 and 72% for the 2004 surveys respectively. Although career satisfaction remained unchanged, numerous changes occurred in both emotions and attitudes. Compared to those residents who did not violate work-hour requirements, those who did were significantly more negative in attitudes and emotions.
Conclusion
With the implementation of the ACGME work hour limitations, the training experience became more negative for those residents who violated the work hour limits and had a small positive impact on those who did not violate them. Graduate medical education leaders must innovate to make the experiences for selected residents improved and still maintain compliance with the work hour requirements.
BMC Medical Education 2006, 6:53. Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
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