Teaching Hospitals Cited for Overworking Medical Residents

On June 14, 2000, Reuters Health news service reports that one in five institutions in the United States that train doctors have been cited for violating work-hour standards. Excessive work schedules and the resulting sleep deprivation continue to pose a hazard to patients as well as the residents themselves.

Last year (1999) the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) cited 53% of the country's pediatric surgery programs, 36% of general surgery programs and 30% of internal medicine programs for work-hour limit violations.

The ACGME has moved to enforce work-hour standards in light of reports that medical errors are responsible for the deaths of between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans every year.