Policy on Student Duty Hours During Clinical Rotations

The following policy pertains to the amount of time medical students spend in required clinical and educational activities during clinical rotations, including clerkships and electives. The policies have been established in line with ACGME guidelines for work hours of interns and residents to promote patient safety and medical student well-being.

● Duty hours are limited to an 80 hours per week averaged over the length of the rotation. This includes all clinical care, in-house call activities, and departmental and medical school sponsored core educational sessions including rounds, lectures, and seminars. Duty hours do not include time spent at home reading or studying.

● No duty shift (such as a call day) may exceed 24 hours, plus 3-hour sign out.

● Students are required to have one 24-hour period off in seven days, averaged over the length of the rotation.

● Students may not have more than 12 consecutive hours on duty in the Emergency Department.

Compliance:

Clerkship Site Directors, Clerkship Directors, Elective Course Directors, and the Associate Dean for Clinical Medical Education will monitor compliance with the Clinical Rotation Duty Hours policy. Students are advised to report violations of this policy in one of several ways. The student may directly report the violation to the clerkship/elective site course director or clerkship director. Students may also directly report the violation to the Associate Dean for Clinical Medical Education. At the end of each clerkship and elective course, students will be asked about course/clerkship compliance with the student duty hours policy on the course/clerkship evaluation form. The responses to the course evaluation form will be anonymous, and will be reviewed by the Associate Dean for Clinical Medical Education and the Clerkship Director. Additionally, students may anonymously report duty hour violations at any time through an on-line reporting system that will be reviewed by the Associate Dean for Clinical Medical Education.

If the duty hour violation is reported directly to the Clerkship or Course Director, the Course or Clerkship Director must investigate the report and attempt to resolve the situation. If the situation is not resolved, the student must report the violation to the Associate Dean for Clinical Medical Education. The Associate Dean for Clinical Medical Education will address these and any other reports of duty hour violations that were directly reported to him/her by meeting with the specific clerkship or Course Director. The Clerkship Director will be required to submit a final report to the Associate Dean for Clinical Medical Education and the Deputy Dean to summarize how the compliance issue was resolved.