ABIM limit on number of cross cover patients?

[StudentDoctor55]

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Is there a limit to the number of patients an intern in internal medicine can cross-cover? Is 80 floor patients and 10 ICU patients while admitting 4 ICU patients excessive? Not trying to complain, just curious.

 

[surge55]

Is there a limit to the number of patients an intern in internal medicine can cross-cover? Is 80 floor patients and 10 ICU patients while admitting 4 ICU patients excessive? Not trying to complain, just curious.

🙁 that seems ridiculous

 

[gutonc]

Is there a limit to the number of patients an intern in internal medicine can cross-cover? Is 80 floor patients and 10 ICU patients while admitting 4 ICU patients excessive? Not trying to complain, just curious.

It would be ACGME and the IM RRC, not ABIM.

I don't know that there's a cross-cover rule like there is a regular patient load rule (but I've never bothered to look). That is a recipe for failure/disaster though.

When I was an intern we would routinely cross-cover 60-70 plus admits (usually 6/night) but that was floor only, no ICU. Open ICUs are a nightmare and programs that have them should be avoided like the plague.

 

[jdh71]

As far as I know there is no rule about how many you can cross-cover, but there should be IMHO.

Covering BOTH the unit and the floor is a really, really bad idea for one resident.

I mean I can see scenarios where it might work, smaller hospital + small bed unit, where the total crosscover pateints was, I don't know, half of what the OP was talking about.

It really sucks what the new and "improved' work hours have done to us. Of course bring some sanity to no restrictions and 120hr weeks was sane and humane, but the newest "fix" has been really bad all around. I finished my residency before these new hours, and every night we had two floor interns cross covering the floor, a supervising resident admitting to the floor, and an ICU resident covering and admitting to the unit, with both the cards and pulm fellow very accessable from home. I guess my bias is for something similar.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Is there a limit to the number of patients an intern in internal medicine can cross-cover? Is 80 floor patients and 10 ICU patients while admitting 4 ICU patients excessive? Not trying to complain, just curious.

This seems excessive.

The only way this could be reasonable is if the hospital was a small community hospital where the acuity was incredibly low. Even still, covering 90 patients, someone is liable to get sick overnight and that would absorb your whole night.

I agree that open ICUs can be a disaster.