University of
Duty Hour Policy for Students
Principles
The participation of medical students in third and fourth year clerkships and electives involves two important responsibilities that at times may make conflicting demands on the students’ time. These two responsibilities are:
1. The development of the student’s clinical skills and professional attributes.
2. Student contribution to medical teams and care of patients.
In balancing these two potentially competing needs, it is recognized that the third and fourth year clerkships must also provide students with adequate time for individual study, sleep, and relaxation. Accordingly, the following policies set forth the maximum acceptable amount of time that clerkships and electives may require of students.
Duty Hour Policy
1. Duty hours are defined as all required educational activities in clerkships and electives during the third and fourth years of the medical school curriculum, including inpatient and outpatient care, administrative activities related to patient care (charting, discharge planning, transfer planning, etc.), and scheduled educational activities such as conferences, rounds, lectures, etc. Duty hours do not include reading and preparation time spent away from the duty site.
2. Duty hours shall not exceed 80 hours per week. These 80 hours include in-house (but not out-of-house) call activities.
3. Students shall be provided with one 24 hour period off each week, free
from all educational and clinical responsibilities. School holidays that occur during a rotation may be included as days off for the time period during which they fall.
4. Adequate time for rest and recreational activities shall be provided. This will include a minimum 10 hour time period free of student responsibilities between all daily duty periods and after in-house call.
5. In-house call shall not occur more frequently than every third night, averaged over a rotation (four or eight week period).
6. Duty hours in the hospital or clinic setting shall not exceed 30 consecutive
hours, including hours spent sleeping while on call if less than four hours.
7. Students shall not be expected to use duty hours on tasks that are not directly related to learning activities (e.g., performing personal favors or services for other medical personnel), nor should they be expected to do tasks unrelated to their learning activities (such as covering for residents who must leave due to work hour restrictions).
8. Clerkship directors and elective preceptors may promulgate duty hour restrictions that are more (but not less) stringent than those outlined herein.
Responsibility
The primary responsibility for monitoring and enforcing these duty hour policies rests with the clerkships directors and elective preceptors. The clerkship director and elective preceptor are responsible for forwarding details regarding any perceived or actual problem with the implementation with this policy to the Clinical Education Committee and the appropriate departmental chair.