Working hours of interns and internal medicine residents: a cross sectional study study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

2 Faculty of Dentistry, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

3 Division of Sleep Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

4 Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran

5 Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

10.22038/fmej.2024.74257.1559

Abstract

Background: Duty hours for internships and residents have received globally criticism attention in recent years. Working hours highly affect trainee well-being, patient care, and education programs. There is no consensus about the benefit of reducing working hours. We aim to assess how reducing in work hours can influence interns on some aspects of training, well-being, and patient care.
Method: This study was conducted in Internal Medicine Department of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran. We reduced working hours from 20 hours to 10 hours in a shift for 6 weeks in our department for interns and a self-administered, validated questionnaire, which has previously been evaluated for the validity and reliability, was given to internal medicine residents and interns. At the end of the study, data were analyzed by SPSS.
Results: A total of 11 residents and 23 interns completed the surveys. Limited working hours has significant beneficial effects according to participants' opinions in many domains with duty hour restrictions (P<0.05). These includes subdomains such as, increasing training and participating in their classes, well-being, improving the quality of file completion, more responsibility, better history taking, and less medical mistakes.
Conclusion: As indicated, 83% of residents and 73% of interns reach a consensus on reducing the working-hours of the clinical rounds in many subdomains with duty hour reform. Their perceptions showed critical benefits in ability to deliver patient care, education and well-being after duty hour restriction.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Future of Medical Education Journal
Volume 14, Issue 2
June 2024
Pages 44-48

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