Not necessarily specific to neurosurgery, but here is a quote straight from the ACGME website in july when they first posted their summary of actions that may need to be taken if GME funding is cut. The last line speaks volumes. There is no evidence that duty hour restrictions have improved patient outcomes.
"Learning Environment Standards, Including Supervision and Resident Duty Hours
ACGME would be challenged to reexamine its 2011 learning environment standards for resident physicians and fellows, including both required supervision in the teaching environment, and resident duty hour standards. The IOM study on duty hours called for an additional $1.7 billion in GME funding for the replacement caregivers, in order to implement changes in these and other elements of the learning environment.2 In the absence of that funding increase, and in the face of GME funding cuts, training programs and institutions will face demands for greater patient care productivity by resident physicians and fellows. That demand, coupled with the absence of evidence showing improvement in morbidity or mortality with duty hour restrictions, would likely result in calls for changes in the ACGME duty hour, supervision, and patient safety standards."
