Residents’ perceptions of patient safety linked to duty hour violations

Editor's Note

Surgical residents who perceived negative effects of The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s duty hour policies on patient safety were more likely to violate duty hour policies, this study finds.

Of 4,554 residents in 184 programs analyzed:

• 25.3% felt the current duty hour policies negatively affected patient safety.
• 23% reported frequent (at least 3 times per month) duty hour violations.
• Overall, those with negative perceptions of how duty hours affect patient safety more often reported frequent duty hour violations than those with neutral/positive perceptions (32.7% vs 20.0%).

Residents are often required to balance whether to adhere to duty hour policies or violate them to care for patients and obtain educational experiences. Little is known about why residents violate duty hour policies and whether there is a relationship between how often residents violate duty hours and concerns about patient safety. Our objective was to assess the association between resident duty hour violations and resident concerns about patient safety.