AMA meetings and workshops let residents speak out on work hours and conditions

Recent media reports on patient safety, coupled with concerns regarding legislative mandates, continue to keep the subject of resident work hours in the spotlight — and high on the AMA’s priority list. To ensure residents have their say when it comes to work hours and work conditions, the AMA and the AMA Resident and Fellow Section (AMA-RFS) continue to bring people together to address the topic.

The AMA House of Delegates earlier this month significantly changed its long-standing policy on the work environment for resident physicians, allowing much broader advocacy on their behalf to improve patient and resident safety. The new policy allows the AMA to draft, modify or oppose legislation and pursue regulatory or administrative strategies when dealing with resident work hours and conditions.

“The issue of resident work and learning environment is a complex problem requiring the involvement of many organizations,” said AMA Resident Trustee Peter Watson, MD. “This new policy will enhance our flexibility to deal with the issue.” In addition to developments at Interim and Annual meetings, the AMA-RFS and the Committee of Interns and Residents-SEIU co-sponsored a meeting on the topic in Washington, D.C. in August. More than 40 resident and medical student leaders representing 14 organizations discussed physicians doing non-physician work, inadequate support of residents by the health care system, lack of ancillary staff, barriers to voice and education.

“Attendees recognized that this problem cannot be solved by any one organization and that working together would increase resources, raise the profile of the discussion, and lay the groundwork for future efforts,” said AMA member Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, chair of the AMA-RFS. “Considering the histories of conflict that exist among these groups, it was truly extraordinary to convene a meeting such as this.”

Opportunities for further collaboration continued Oct. 28-29, when the AMA, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the Sleep Research Society and the National Center for Sleep Disorders Research co-host a workshop, “Sleep, Fatigue and Medical Training: Optimizing Learning in the Patient Care Environment” in Alexandria, Va. The workshop defined the current state of knowledge about how sleep deprivation affects performance and strategies to mitigate the negative effects of fatigue in medical training settings.