Purpose:

The School of Medicine recognizes that education is the primary goal of medical students.  This policy outlines the limitations on work hours to allow students to maximize the educational benefit and limit fatigue which may impair the student’s ability to learn.  The policy will include oversight of all aspects of the educational experience of a medical student. 

Policy:

Students will be provided a sound education experience that is carefully planned and balanced with concerns for patient safety and student well-being.  The learning objectives of each educational experience cannot be compromised by excessively scheduled contact hours in the pre-clinical educational experience or clinical assignments in the clinical educational experience.  The oversight of this policy will be the responsibility of the Senior Associate Dean of Medical Education and the Medical Education Committee.

Specifics of the Policy and Procedure:

Pre-clinical Education

1. Although, the vast majority of educational activities in pre-clinical education do not require mandatory student attendance, monitoring of all scheduled educational activities will be included in this policy. 
2. At least annually, the Medical Education Committee will monitor the scheduled student contact hours for all required courses to assure that learning is not compromised by an excessively dense educational schedule. 
3. Any concerns of the Medical Education Committee will be reported immediately to the Senior Associate Dean for corrective action.

Clinical Education: 

1. Every clinical educational experience must have established policies regarding student duty hours and inform students of the experience’s policy.
2. Duty hours are defined as all clinical and academic activities related to the educational experience; i.e., patient care (both inpatient and outpatient), administrative duties relative to patient care, the provision for transfer of patient care, time spent in-house during call activities, and scheduled activities such as conferences. Duty hours do not include reading and preparation time spent away from the duty site.
3. When averaged over 4 weeks or during the length of the experience whichever is shorter:
1. Duty hours must be limited to 80 hours per week, inclusive of all in-house call activities.
2. In-house call must occur no more frequently than every third night.
3. Students must be provided with 1 day in 7 free from all educational and clinical responsibilities, inclusive of call.  One day is defined as 1 continuous 24-hour period free from all clinical, educational, and administrative duties.
4. Clerkship directors and the Assistant Dean for Clinical Education will be responsible for monitoring student duty hours at least semi-annually and report compliance to the Medical Education Committee.
5. Any concerns of the Medical Education Committee will be reported immediately to the Senior Associate Dean for corrective action.
6. Student with any concerns of duty hours should report their concern to the Assistant Dean for Clinical Education or the Senior Associate Dean for corrective action.  The student should also report any work hour issues on the end of clerkship evaluation, which is monitored by the Clerkship director, Assistant Dean for Clinical Education and the Medical Education Committee.

Approved March 24, 2006 by Robert R. Rich, MD, Senior Vice President and Dean of the University of Alabama School of Medicine