working conditions of interns and residents???

[ccrystey]

Hi Guys

My name is Christy. I'm a pre-med senior and have a double major in
biology and psychology at UMBC, Maryland. I'm writing a debate paper on
the working conditions of medical students and residents.

I'm arguing that the system needs to be changed because they are
over-worked. I think this could cause them to be too exhausted and put
their health and the health of the patients at risk. Could you please help
me with this paper by answering some of my questions?

1. what is the current state of a residency program?
2. what do you think of it (from your experience)(pros and
cons/consequences)?
3. what do you think should be changed/improved?
4. what do you think of my proposal of shortening shift hours by:
- extending medical school to a 4 years or 5 years program, so people can
choose to spread out their time of clinical rotations?
- extending residency an extra year (would this cause a bottle neck effect?)
- accepting more foreign physicians/ medical professionals to relieve
shortages in the medical field
5. why do you think hasn't any of these changes or any change been made?

Thank you very much for your time =)

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[Arch Guillotti]

Cross-posting is a real drag.

 

[ccrystey]

Cross-posting is a real drag.

sorry..i just joined the forums today...don't know how this all works yet

 

[Jeff05]

Hi Guys

My name is Christy. I'm a pre-med senior and have a double major in
biology and psychology at UMBC, Maryland. I'm writing a debate paper on
the working conditions of medical students and residents.

I'm arguing that the system needs to be changed because they are
over-worked. I think this could cause them to be too exhausted and put
their health and the health of the patients at risk. Could you please help
me with this paper by answering some of my questions?

1. what is the current state of a residency program?
2. what do you think of it (from your experience)(pros and
cons/consequences)?
3. what do you think should be changed/improved?
4. what do you think of my proposal of shortening shift hours by:
- extending medical school to a 4 years or 5 years program, so people can
choose to spread out their time of clinical rotations?
- extending residency an extra year (would this cause a bottle neck effect?)
- accepting more foreign physicians/ medical professionals to relieve
shortages in the medical field
5. why do you think hasn't any of these changes or any change been made?

Thank you very much for your time =)

1. i would do a google search as well as a forum search on these exhausted topics.

2. there HAVE been changes...like the 80hr/wk.

3. would YOU want to do an extra year of medical school and an extra year of residency!? (trust me, you wouldn't. 8 years undergrad and medschool and a minimum 3 years residency is long enough.) and accepting more foreign physicians and/medical professionals...who's gonna pay for it? an FMG resident costs as much as an AMG. and a nurse practitioner or a PA that can take some stress of the interns (and only interns because they can't do higher level work) costs at least 60k/yr plus benefits. most hospitals already have them to attempt the 80hr/wk

 

[ccrystey]

1. i would do a google search as well as a forum search on these exhausted topics.

2. there HAVE been changes...like the 80hr/wk.

3. would YOU want to do an extra year of medical school and an extra year of residency!? (trust me, you wouldn't. 8 years undergrad and medschool and a minimum 3 years residency is long enough.) and accepting more foreign physicians and/medical professionals...who's gonna pay for it? an FMG resident costs as much as an AMG. and a nurse practitioner or a PA that can take some stress of the interns (and only interns because they can't do higher level work) costs at least 60k/yr plus benefits. most hospitals already have them to attempt the 80hr/wk

Thank you for your help. I am getting more information from other sources. Sorry if my suggestions seem poorly researched but those were just my starting points. I have interviewed Dean Scott of GWU and have received email replies from Deans from UMAB, along with thoughts from residents on residentsdiary.com. I was hoping to get additional opinions and personal experience from the med. students and residents on these forums. I really appreciate your input. Thanks!

 

[margaritaboy]

Hello.

Your topic is a hot one right now, especially since the 80 hour work week limit has been implemented for residents about 18 months ago. You can do a forum search as suggested above, and you should get plenty of hits from this site alone.

To offer one point of view:
I doubt that many people would support making medical school longer than the 4 years it already is. In fact, Duke essentially has a 3 year curriculum plus one year for research. I felt that much of my medical shool time was squandered in the classroom or cramming for tests, rather than learning real-world medicine one hospital wards, and lothe the idea of prolonging this model of medical education.

Likewise, I doubt many residents would jump at the idea of making thier relatively low paying residencies last longer. I would be in favor of hospitals/residency programs hiring more PAs and NPs to help with patient care. Currently, I'm on a trauma surgery rotation and there are 2 PAs that help round, write orders, discharge and manage patient care. I simply cannot imagine how the service would run without them, and cannot imagine the kind of patient care that was delivered prior to them being hired (because of the 80hr rule), let alone residents' quality of life.

Just my opinion. Try a search as suggested in the previous post. Good luck.

 

[banner]

Yes. Extending medical school is not the answer since medical school is not the problem in the first place. Medical students are generally not worked as hard as residents, nor do they have the responsibility.

Magarita boy is right. Good ancillary staff is the key to cutting work hours. Historically, "teaching hospitals" notoriously would hire inadequate ancillary staff because they force the residents to do all the work as a cost savings measure. Ancillary staff = nurses, people who draw blood, people who transport patients, etc. They could get away with this in the past when each patient required less work, but as medicine advanced, more and more was being done for each patient. Additionally, the practice of "defensive medicine" to prevent lawsuits has recently come into its own, further increasing the work that one must do with each patient (more uneeded tests = more blood draws, etc.).

These are all just starting points that you can consider. Good luck with your paper.