Night Float

[zeloc]

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Have been reading over the ACGME guidelines, and found that residents are not allowed to have more than 1 and a half months of night float in any year and not more than 4 months over residency. I did 2 months this past year, so already in violation... Does anyone know why this is a rule? Are they defining night float as just coverage or coverage + admissions?

 

[gutonc]

Have been reading over the ACGME guidelines, and found that residents are not allowed to have more than 1 and a half months of night float in any year and not more than 4 months over residency. I did 2 months my intern year, so already in violation... Does anyone know why this is a rule? Are they defining night float as just coverage or coverage + admissions?

It's sort of a moot point, isn't it? Suck it up and move along. And is 6-8 weeks of night float worse than q3 overnight for 1-5 years, which it probably replaced? I doubt it.

Honestly, nobody is going to give a crap about anything other than the 30/80/10 rules and, even then, only superficially...enough to keep the bean counters happy.

 

[dragonfly99]

I think that it's a rule because the ACGME felt that there would probably be less learning and teaching on night float vs. a regular rotation (probably correctly). But I agree w/the above. I don't see how it's in your interest to complain. Personally, we had no night float but that meant doing Q3 and Q4 30 hour overnight calls w/admissions + crosscover for 11 months during intern year, which in retrospect was pretty sucky.

 

[Marianne11]

What exactly is night float & how does it help eliminate Q3/4 etc?

 

[gutonc]

What exactly is night float & how does it help eliminate Q3/4 etc?

Night float means that there is a team/person who comes in overnight (7p-7a or whatever) and takes over admitting and cross-covering patients from the on-call team. The specifics vary by program and rotation. It doesn't get rid of Q3/4/5 call but it does get rid of most overnight calls (weekends are usually still overnight so the night float team gets a day or 2 off).

Some people love it, others hate it. With work hour restrictions though it's becoming pretty common.

 

[DrJosephKim]

Different hospitals use the phrase "night float" to mean different things. You'll probably find several night float models used in academic hospitals. For example, some night float systems only focus on cross-coverage and don't admit (they use moonlighters to do all the admissions).