Crain's Health Pulse
December 3, 2008

Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare was not disappointed with yesterday's report from the Institute of Medicine, which recommends cutting to 16 the maximum number of hours residents can work without sleep.

"It was very comprehensive," President Dr. Luella Toni Lewis says of the report. But the union doesn't agree with the suggestion to allow a 30-hour shift if it includes a five-hour protected period of sleep. "In practice, it's a weird thing to do--if I told you to go take a nap in 15 minutes," Dr. Lewis says.

The union had hoped the institute would commit to a 16-hour limit. New York's teaching hospitals "are ahead of the curve with some of the best practices in shortening shifts," Dr. Lewis says.

Under the state's Section 405 code, resident work hours are limited to 24 consecutive, 80 a week averaged over four weeks, and 12 maximum in the emergency room. All residents must have at least 24 consecutive hours off a week.