New Rules Proposed for Medical Residents

The 80-hour maximum work week (based on a four-week average) wouldn't be changed under proposed rules for medical residents issued Wednesday by a committee of the Accrediting Council for Graduate Medical Education. The committee said that the maximum was not inherently dangerous to medical care, as some critics have charged. At the same time, however, the committee did propose other changes, including a limit of a 16-hour day for first-year residents and more detailed instructions on the direction that must be provided to first-year residents. The Association of American Medical Colleges issued a statement praising the new recommendations.