Science / Medicine : Medical Training Curbs

In an effort to allay public fear that medical residents are working too many hours and providing inadequate patient care in hospitals, an ad hoc committee organized by the University of California has recommended that the state’s five public and three private medical schools restrict doctors in training to no more than 84 hours of work per week. The recommendations are in stark contrast to current practices of allowing young physicians, particularly obstetricians and surgeons, to work round the clock without sleep for upwards of 90 or 100 hours a week.

The California plan for reform, however, is in keeping with those of a number of other efforts around the country to make medical residency training less stressful and to improve hospital care of patients.

The problem for California, and one the UC committee did not address, is how to pay for the additional personnel that would be needed to implement such a plan. According to the committee’s own estimates, to replace residents with additional residents, nurses, or trained physicians could cost anywhere from $26 million to $190 million a year.