ENTtoday
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • Practice Focus
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Departments
    • Issue Archive
    • TRIO Best Practices
      • Allergy
      • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
      • Head and Neck
      • Laryngology
      • Otology/Neurotology
      • Pediatric
      • Rhinology
      • Sleep Medicine
    • Career Development
    • Case of the Month
    • Everyday Ethics
    • Health Policy
    • Legal Matters
    • Letter From the Editor
    • Medical Education
    • Online Exclusives
    • Practice Management
    • Resident Focus
    • Rx: Wellness
    • Special Reports
    • Tech Talk
    • Viewpoint
    • What’s Your O.R. Playlist?
  • Literature Reviews
    • Allergy
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Events
    • Featured Events
    • TRIO Meetings
  • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • Triological Society
    • Advertising Staff
    • Subscribe
  • Advertise
    • Place an Ad
    • Classifieds
    • Rate Card
  • Search

Training Trends: British surgeon offers cautionary tale about limit on trainee duty hours

by Thomas R. Collins • June 1, 2011

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version

Lack of Evidence

In introducing Lord Ribeiro, Gerald Healy, MD, past president of the American College of Surgeons and professor of otology and laryngology at Harvard Medical School, said the new U.S. rules have not been thought through. “We talk about outcomes?” he said. “Nobody has thought about the outcomes for the patient in all of this discussion about reduced hours of training.”

You Might Also Like

  • British Surgeon Describes Lessons Learned from Trainee Duty Hour Limits
  • What Is the Effect of ACGME Duty Hours Regulations?
  • ACGME Revises Cap on Resident Work Hours
  • A New Way to Learn: Residency programs use medical simulation to fill training gaps
Explore This Issue
June 2011

Lord Ribeiro said the new rules were put into place in the U.K. without evidence showing that such a system will improve patient safety. “Where is the evidence?” he said. “We need hard evidence that we are improving patient safety, that we are actually improving patients’ outcomes as a result of reducing the duty hours.” In the U.S., the ACGME has acknowledged that studies have produced no evidence, either positive or negative, that reducing duty hours has an effect on patient safety.

Training Issues

The number of training hours per week in the U.S. will not be cut to U.K. levels, but Dr. Ribeiro said it’s the lack of flexibility that causes problems with education.

“It’s all the bits inside it and the rigidity that’s the problem,” he said. The continuity in training and in patient care have been hit hard in the U.K. as a result of the new limits, he added.

“Trainees are often attached to two or three different consultants,” Dr. Ribeiro told his U.S. listeners. “The idea that you have your team, your group around you who you nurture, you support and you promote and you advise, that is going rapidly. And that has come out of one single regulation. And this is something you need to guard against.”

He said that before the new rules took effect, trainees could be expected to receive 21,000 hours of training. Now, he said, “our calculation was that they would be lucky to get 8,000 hours”—below the 10,000 hours of experience generally regarded as the requirement to become an expert in a field.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a concert pianist or whether you’re a tennis player or whether you’re a surgeon, you need on average 10,000 hours of experience to change you from being a competent performer into an expert,” he said. “Ten thousand hours. When I trained, and I’m sure just about everyone in this room, when you trained, it was quite common to clock up 30,000 [to] 35,000 hours during your training period. This is the reality of what’s happening. Surgery is different. It isn’t just about reading the books and getting a feel for what your specialty is about. It’s actually applying it and being able to put it into practice by operating. And not just by operating, but going back to reassess patients before making the decision to operate.”

Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page

Filed Under: Career Development, Health Policy, Medical Education, News, Practice Management, Resident Focus Tagged With: health care policy, residents, trainingIssue: June 2011

You Might Also Like:

  • British Surgeon Describes Lessons Learned from Trainee Duty Hour Limits
  • What Is the Effect of ACGME Duty Hours Regulations?
  • ACGME Revises Cap on Resident Work Hours
  • A New Way to Learn: Residency programs use medical simulation to fill training gaps

The Triological SocietyENTtoday is a publication of The Triological Society.

The Laryngoscope
Ensure you have all the latest research at your fingertips; Subscribe to The Laryngoscope today!

Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
Open access journal in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery is currently accepting submissions.

Classifieds

View the classified ads »

TRIO Best Practices

View the TRIO Best Practices »

Top Articles for Residents

  • Do Training Programs Give Otolaryngology Residents the Necessary Tools to Do Productive Research?
  • Why More MDs, Medical Residents Are Choosing to Pursue Additional Academic Degrees
  • What Physicians Need to Know about Investing Before Hiring a Financial Advisor
  • Tips to Help You Regain Your Sense of Self
  • Should USMLE Step 1 Change from Numeric Score to Pass/Fail?
  • Popular this Week
  • Most Popular
  • Most Recent
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • Experts Delve into Treatment Options for Laryngopharyngeal Reflux
    • Otolaryngologists Have a Major Role to Play in Treating COVID-19 Long-Haulers
    • Some Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Resists PPI Treatment
    • Vertigo in the Elderly: What Does It Mean?
    • New Developments in the Management of Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
    • Some Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Resists PPI Treatment
    • Eustachian Tuboplasty: A Potential New Option for Chronic Tube Dysfunction and Patulous Disease
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Podcasts Becoming More Popular Method of Education for Otolaryngologists
    • How to Embrace Optimism in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic
    • Tips on How to Approach Conversations with Patients about the COVID-19 Vaccine
    • Steps You Should Take to Protect Your Voice and Hearing During Telemedicine Sessions
    • Routine Postoperative Adjunct Treatments Unnecessary for Idiopathic Cerebrospinal Fluid Leaks

Polls

Have you spoken with your patients about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Visit: The Triological Society • The Laryngoscope • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology

Wiley
© 2021 The Triological Society. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN 1559-4939

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This site uses cookies: Find out more.