Work Hours and Call Procedures
The ACGME
is quite explicit in the rules concerning the work hour allotments. For
residents to meet these rules, our program has developed a system to
assure that residents receive the highest quality training in a safe and
enjoyable workload experience.
A night
float system is utilized for senior residents for night
coverage at Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center. Residents
perform a one-month block of night float each year.
At our
Sentara Norfolk General Hospital site, residents enjoy being on call
with their team every fourth night. However, on their call days, they
only perform call from 12 noon to 6 a.m. This assures that residents
will have adequate time to see their patients and accomplish their
patient care activities the day of and the day following call. Residents
at Norfolk General will spend no longer than 30 hours of duty on the day
they are on call.
To
further support our residents in assuring that they will not exceed
ACGME work hour guidelines, independent hospitalist teams will back up
inpatient services at DePaul and Norfolk General Hospitals. Whenever
workload and admission limits have been met, the hospitalist teams will
admit and care for overflow patients. At the VA Medical Center, our
attending physicians and chief resident will assume care of patients if
our various caps are met.
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