Washington, D.C., December 2, 2008—AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., issued the following statement today on the Institute of Medicine's new report, “Resident Duty Hours: Enhancing Sleep, Supervision and Safety”:

"The AAMC applauds the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for its comprehensive review of medical residents' duty hours and their impact on patient safety and performance.

We agree with the IOM that we must examine duty hours as one of many factors in patient safety and quality of care. The association has supported duty hour limits for two decades and helped develop the current ACGME standards. Since the duty hour restrictions took effect in 2003, teaching hospitals and the leaders of graduate medical education programs have worked hard to ensure optimal learning environments for residents that maintain appropriate supervision, and create a proper balance between education and patient care. Resident trainees must engage in sufficient and appropriate clinical activities across the continuum of patient care to ensure that they develop into physicians capable of independently practicing safe, high-quality medicine. As they acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for independent practice, they must also learn to care for patients as part of a team of health care professionals.

The AAMC and the nation's teaching hospitals have always been committed to providing safe, high- quality patient care while still ensuring that tomorrow's doctors receive the very best clinical education. If the current duty hour limits are modified, it will be important to consider the impact of potential changes on other members of health care teams and the effect on patient care.

Putting the 2003 ACGME standards into practice has been a complex undertaking. The planning and implementation of any further changes will require significant time and resources. In addition, as the IOM recommends, more research is needed to better understand the impact of the current limits and any future modifications. Moving forward, we will continue to work with the IOM and other stakeholders to make additional improvements to the processes that govern the well being, supervision, and workload of residents at every stage of their training."

# # #

The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 131 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and nearly 90 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 128,000 faculty members, 75,000 medical students, and 110,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

Contact Us    © 1995-2009 AAMC    Terms and Conditions    Privacy Statement