Hospitals across Northeast Ohio will now be allowed to have first year doctors work 24 hour shifts.
The new guidelines took effect July 1 and were put into place by The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the organization in charge of setting the rules for doctors in training.
It will impact hundreds of teaching hospitals across the U.S. where residents are employed.
There are 31 teaching hospitals in Ohio that could see these 24 hour shifts, including major hospital groups in Cuyahoga and Summit Counties. These include:
- MetroHealth
- Cleveland Clinic
- University Hospitals
- Summa Health
- Akron General
Between these teaching hospitals, thousands of patients in Northeast Ohio are treated every year.
Patient and Consumer advocates say a new guideline allowing first year doctors, or residents, to work 24 hour shifts is dangerous.
“It’s just going to harm and potentially kill patients and residents across the country,” said Sammy Almashat, a researcher with Public Citizens, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington. “It’s concerning to us that not only are patients going to be harmed, but patients aren’t going to know that they’re going to be at risk because most people do not know that their doctors are working 24-28 hours straight without sleeping."
However, other doctors, and even second year residents, have been permitted to work 24 hours at a time for years. It’s an ongoing debate. The council for graduate medicine says this move will enhance patient safety by allowing for less patient turnover from doctor to doctor. The council also argues the previous 16 hour limit forced residents into missing some critical moments in their medical education.
News 5 reached out to all Cleveland area teaching hospitals for comment and heard back from only one.
University Hospitals provided this statement in reaction to the new guidelines:
“At University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, we have not changed our intern call schedule. Interns at UH do not take overnight call even with this rule change. This is according to our vice chairman of education, Dr. Keith Armitage.”
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