Hours Worked by Residents

[prominence]

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If you search through residency programs listed in the FREIDA directory, there is a statistic that lists "avg hrs/wk on duty during first year (excluding beeper call)". I am assuming that these figures are reported to FREIDA by the individual residency programs.

Obviously these stats will be different for different specialties (i.e. I imagine surgery residents to work heavy hours). But the range was surprising to me.
For example, some programs I looked at listed 75 hours per week. Others had 40 hrs per week... is this too good to be true?

For an applicant who is interested in Program X, how accurate can one take these stats to be?

 

[Winged Scapula]

If you search through residency programs listed in the FREIDA directory, there is a statistic that lists "avg hrs/wk on duty during first year (excluding beeper call)". I am assuming that these figures are reported to FREIDA by the individual residency programs.

Obviously these stats will be different for different specialties (i.e. I imagine surgery residents to work heavy hours). But the range was surprising to me.
For example, some programs I looked at listed 75 hours per week. Others had 40 hrs per week... is this too good to be true?

For an applicant who is interested in Program X, how accurate can one take these stats to be?

Take these with a grain of salt. The numbers are reported by the programs and not verified by the RRC. I've noted some databases are unchanged from year to year - so I assume that no one is doing much more than mailing an "update" to FREIDA without really making changes. Even in the "old days" (ie, before the 80 hours hit surgery) you never saw programs listing things like "120" hours week or even 100.

Just don't even include these numbers in your assessment of a program. If you like a program, if its hours are not significantly more than anywhere else, you'll be happier (even if you do work a few more hours per week). Best estimates are often from Prelim interns, especially those who are going to a different department or program. They usually have nothing to lose in telling you the real hours.

 

[delchrys]

what organization does the actual regulating of the 80-hour workweek for residents?

 

[Winged Scapula]

what organization does the actual regulating of the 80-hour workweek for residents?

The RRC.

 

[delchrys]

pardon my complete ignorance (what else is new), but what does the acronym RRC stand for?

 

[Winged Scapula]

pardon my complete ignorance (what else is new), but what does the acronym RRC stand for?

Residency Review Committee