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Reduced neurosurgical resident hours have not positively affected patient outcomes
The 2003 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education mandate for a maximum 80-hour work-week restriction on medical residents has had no positive effects with regard to patient outcomes, a new study has found.
Researchers recently analyzed hospital-based data from 3 years before and 3 years after the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-mandated restriction on duty hours was put in place, according to a Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group press release.
Despite statewide restrictions in place across New York, the researchers found there were no significant differences in clinical outcomes between regulated training hospitals in New York and unregulated training hospitals in other states before implementation of the ACGME regulations. There also were not any significant differences in clinical outcomes for non-New York training hospitals after the ACGME regulations came into effect compared with before, according to the release.
After the ACGME regulations were put in place, there were no significant changes in clinical outcomes found in New York training hospitals from those seen before the new regulations. However, the researchers found some significant differences in clinical outcomes between New York training hospitals and non-New York training hospitals after implementation of the new regulations, such as hospital discharge disposition and mean length of hospital stay, with longer stays in the New York hospitals.