Rules Would Reduce Hours for Hospital Doctor Interns
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Hospitals will be required to reduce physician interns’ working hours and be inspected yearly to ensure the first-year doctors are properly supervised and getting enough time off under newly proposed rules.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, a nonprofit organization that evaluates more than 8,800 U.S. residency programs, outlined the proposed policies in a paper published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The procedures would trim the length of time interns can be on call to 16 hours from 30 previously and require greater supervision of the new doctors.