Residency training programs are preparing for a significant change in residents’ duty hours to comply with new accreditation standards.

As of July 1, residency programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) are generally required to limit resident duty to 80 hours per week, schedule residents for call no more than every third night, and give residents one 24-hour day off per week free of patient care and educational obligations.

These standards are averaged over four weeks. The standards also limit continuous duty to 24 hours, but allow for up to six hours additional time for continuity of care and for education. Residents must also have at least 10 hours rest between duty periods.

The minimum standards apply to residency programs in all 118 ACGME-accredited specialties and subspecialties. The duty hour standards attempt to address health-care environment changes, to promote quality training and patient care, and to protect patient safety.

Teaching hospitals have been adopting best practices from the medical community to save residents time. Many are trying to make communications, such as paging and result reporting, more efficient.

The ACGME will monitor compliance with duty hour standards by confidential Internet resident surveys and interviews during accreditation site visits.

The ACCME Web site has details on the duty hour standards.