fb tracking

Feb. 3 Petition Delivery: Urging ACGME to Reject Work-Hour Proposal That Would Endanger Resident Doctors and Patients

Feb. 1, 2017

MEDIA ADVISORY

Feb. 3 Petition Delivery: Urging ACGME to Reject Work-Hour Proposal That Would Endanger Resident Doctors and Patients

WHAT: More than 67,000 petition signatures will be delivered to an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) board meeting in Chicago urging the board to reject a proposal that would endanger medical residents and their patients.

ACGME is considering a proposal to eliminate the current 16-hour shift cap for first-year medical residents and allow them to work 28 consecutive hours − with no sleep. This proposal is opposed by the vast majority of the American public as shown in a poll commissioned by Public Citizen and conducted by Lake Research Partners last summer.

The ACGME board is expected to vote on the proposal within the next few weeks. The new requirements would take effect at the beginning of the next residency academic year (July 2017).

The groups that gathered the petitions are Public Citizen, Care2 and the American Medical Student Association (AMSA).

Learn more about Public Citizen’s work with medical residents’ work hours.

See a video of former resident Stephanie Waggel, MD, talking about her experience working dangerously long shifts.

WHEN: 9 a.m. CST Friday, Feb. 3

WHERE: 401 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.

WHO: Kelsey Bourgeois, Care2 Campaign Writer and spouse of a first-year resident, on behalf of Public Citizen, Care2 and AMSA.

###