action figures sold separately

if you are not familiar with the issue of resident work hours, here’s a very brief intro:

A true story: “I was operating post-call after being up for 36 hours. I was holding retractors when I literally fell asleep standing up and nearly face planted into wound. My upper arm hit the side of the bed and I woke up at that point and caught myself before I fell to the floor. I nearly put my face in the wound which would have contaminated the entire field and could have resulted in an infection for the patient.” - Anonymous orthopedic surgery resident from CA

and you could check out this fact sheet (and powerpoint presentations and more) put together by the med students association with nuggets like:

• Resident-physicians work up to 120 hours a week, including 36 hour shifts for several weeks at a time.
• After 24 hours of wakefulness, cognitive function deteriorates to a level equivalent to having a 0.1% blood alcohol level. These doctors would be considered too unsafe to drive, yet they could still treat patients for 12 more hours.

so, last year there was a flurry of activity around this issue. and at the moment i’m quite confused: the nice folks at the legislative resource center told me that both hr3236 and s2614 died on Dec 18 with the last congress. yes, lthe legislation meant to put a cap on work hours and instill some santiy in the field went to this committee and that subcommittee and then now they are no more. former. deceased. they also said that nothing on the issue has been re-introduced. yet the med student activists are still urging people to push on those bills. so something seems to be going on with the issue that is not readily apparent…

in the hospitals like the one my sweetie works at and those of our friends from med sku, now scattered around the country, programs are scrambling to try to limit work hours as if the boom will be lowered any day. um, sadly, it does not appear as though much of anything, let alone any boom lowering will happen any day soon.

do watch this space as i will post updates as i get them, perhaps there will be a ray of hope or even just some clarity

update: the american council for graduate medical education wrote guidelines to limit work hours, which will go into effect july 1 (they have a detailed and rather large pdf format FAQ on the issue as well). the legislative affairs director at AMSA says that is what is prompting many programs to reduce work hours at this point, but that they are continuing their activism in hopes that legislation will in fact be re-introduced in a matter of weeks.