Composite resident work week.

Abstract

During a 4-week period, all residents in the Wright State University School of Medicine Department of Surgery residency program were required to keep a log of their daily activities. Times were collected for the following resident activities: patient rounds, work-ups, laboratory data review, consults, meetings with attending physicians or patient families, phone calls, teaching conferences, medical student teaching, library time, clinics, attendance at codes, emergency department visits, on-call time, medical records committee meetings, and time scrubbed. The composite average weekly hours by resident year were 83.4 hours [postgraduate year (PGY)-1], 78.4 hours (PGY-2), 60.2 hours (PGY-3), 79.6 hours (PGY-4), and 80.9 hours (PGY-5). More than 50% of the resident work week cards were for less than 80 hours. Three activities (patient rounds, time scrubbed, and on-call) accounted for the majority of the residents' hours, but the average week, deleting educational and administrative hours, was less than 80 hours for all residents.