a. The American Academy of Family Physicians endorses efforts to reduce work hour burden on residents.
b. The AAFP supports the concept that the time residents spend delivering patient care services of marginal or no educational value should be minimized.
c. The AAFP supports the effective enforcement of resident work hour regulations to promote honest reporting and to improve the efficacy of work hour regulations.
The development of further restrictions on work hours should consider the following:
Physicians have an ethical duty to their patients and profession to provide safe, compassionate, quality medical care. These duties depend on a safe and healthy working environment for resident physicians. To this end, resident assignments must be made in such a way as to prevent excessive patient care responsibilities, inappropriate intensity of service or case mix, and excessive length and frequency of call contributing to excessive fatigue and sleep deprivation.
Programs must have formal mechanisms specifically designed for promotion of physician well-being and prevention of impairment. There also should be a structured and facilitated group designed for resident support that meets on a regular schedule.
Residency programs should have written guidelines governing resident duty hours and should inform all resident of these guidelines.
Residents should have the right to confidentially report work hour violations to the RC-FM and each residency program should inform residents of this right. (March BOD 2002) (2020 COD)