Pediatric surgery fellowship compliance to the 80-hour work week.

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the compliance of pediatric surgery fellowships with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) duty hour restrictions while confronting a reduced resident workforce.

Methods: An evaluation of training programs was performed by surveying pediatric surgery fellows on aspects of work hours, ACGME guideline compliance, operative case volume, employment of physician extenders, and didactic education.

Results: A 74% survey response rate was achieved. Of the respondents, 95% felt fully aware of ACGME guidelines. Although 95% of programs had mechanisms for compliance in place, only 45% of fellows felt compliant. Median work hours were 80 to 90 hours per week. Although subordinate residents were felt to obtain better compliance (>86%), only 69% of fellows perceived greater service commitment as a result. No impact on volume of operative cases was perceived. Of the programs, 89% employed physician extenders and 55% used additional fellows, but no overall effect on fellow work hours was evident. Fellows did not identify an improvement in the quality of clinical fellowships with guideline implementation.

Conclusions: A minority of fellows comply with ACGME guidelines. Vigilance of duty hour tracking correlates to better compliance. A shift of patient care to fellows is perceived. Use of support personnel did not significantly aid compliance.