Duty Hours Policy

PURPOSE
To outline guidelines on the maximum number of hours medical students are expected to spend in clinical and educational activities during the clerkship and post-clerkship phases of the curriculum.

AUDIENCE
All medical students in the clerkship and post-clerkship phases 

LCME STANDARD
8.8 Monitoring Student Time

POLICY

  1. Student duty hours must be limited to 80 hours per week.
  2. Students must not work beyond 16 continuous hours.
  3. Students must be provided with 1 day in 7 free from all educational and clinical responsibilities averaged over a 4-week period.
  4. Adequate time for rest and personal activities between required educational activities should be provided. Optimally, this should be a 10-hour period but must be a minimum of 8 hours.
  5. Overnight shifts should not exceed 6 nights in a row.
  6. Students participating in required daytime educational activities must be excused from clinical rotations at 11 p.m. on the previous night to ensure meaningful participation.
  7. Home-call shifts will count toward duty hours.

DEFINITIONS

  • Duty hours: time spent on all clinical and academic activities related to students (i.e., patient care, administrative duties related to patient care, the provision for transfer of patient care, and scheduled academic activities such as conferences and didactics). Duty hours do not include reading and preparation time spent away from the duty site.
  • Home-call: students are not on site but expected to come to the hospital if requested.

PROCEDURE

  1. The medical student Duty Hour Policy will be communicated to students and supervising physicians, including residents, fellows, and faculty, in writing and to the students verbally during their Transition to Clerkships course and during the clerkship orientation.
  2. Work hours must be documented in the provided documentation resource.
  3. Work hour violations should be reported through an anonymous survey accessible on all clerkship/course websites.
  4. This policy will be monitored for compliance by the Office of Medical Education, Clerkship Directors, and the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Medical Education.
    1. If it is found that students have worked beyond the allowable time frame as described above, the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Medical Education will meet with specific Clerkship Directors to ensure compliance with the policy.
    2. The Committee on Educational Policy will receive an annual report on duty hours.
  5. Retaliatory action against students who accurately report infractions of this policy is prohibited. Persons, including attending physicians and residents, found responsible for retaliatory actions of any kind will be subject to disciplinary actions.

RESPONSIBILITY
Clerkship Directors
Curriculum Managers
Post-Clerkship Course Directors

REFERENCES
N/A

POLICY OWNER
Office of Medical Education

REVIEWED BY
Committee on Educational Policy
Curriculum Managers
Curriculum Steering Subcommittee
Office of Medical Education*

REVIEWED DATE and REVIEW CYCLE
April 2024; 3-year cycle