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katy_123
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Statement by Medical Residency Association president:
Medical residents play an invaluable role in delivering medical care to the citizens of our community, providing round-the-clock coverage and support to both physician and nursing staff while working to earn our medical licenses. Residents are responsible for all of the licensed physician tasks, including intake, the ordering of tests and labs, diagnosis and treatment, including surgery. Nevertheless, we are taken advantage of terribly by the hospitals: assigned to 24-hour shifts, often undermined or treated poorly by senior doctors - sometimes when patients are present - and paid well below minimum wage. Our pay is fixed and it is assumed that we work only one-third of the hours in our assigned shifts; technically, we are considered merely "on call" during these shifts. We are required to be on the hospital grounds at all times, however, and we work far more than the assumed number of hours per shift. Over the past month, each resident has averaged 17.5 active hours of work during a 24-hour shift; further, while working, each resident has averaged only 3.5 hours of sleep at a time. Such working conditions are dangerous for both patients and residents; some serious mistakes have already been made and were caught only at the last minute by senior staff.
Statement by Hospital Board spokesperson:
We firmly believe that residents are an integral part of the medical care delivery team at our network of hospitals. At the same time, medical residencies are a part of the training process to become a physician; until someone has finished the residency, he or she is not, and cannot reasonably be considered, a licensed physician. Residencies function in much the manner of an apprenticeship of old: hands-on training under the supervision of a fully trained mentor. Residents are not expected to work 24 hours in a 24-hour shift, nor anywhere close to that. They are assigned such shifts merely to ensure that they are on-site when something occurs that would be beneficial to their training. If residents choose to participate in many routine activities that can ably be handled by the nursing or medical staff, that is the residents' choice. Further, the entire system is structured to provide both training and oversight; when a resident is called upon to make a diagnosis or perform a minor procedure, there is always an experienced physician on hand to verify the diagnosis, take over the procedure, or otherwise correct any potential errors.
For each of the following statements, select Both Agree if it can be inferred that the Medical Residency Association president and the Hospital Board spokesperson both agree with the statement. If not, select Otherwise.
Both Agree Otherwise
The degree to which there is a danger of lasting patient harm caused by medical resident errors.
Whether medical residents may work more than 8 hours during a 24-hour shift.
The degree to which a resident is as qualified as a licensed physician.
Medical residents play an invaluable role in delivering medical care to the citizens of our community, providing round-the-clock coverage and support to both physician and nursing staff while working to earn our medical licenses. Residents are responsible for all of the licensed physician tasks, including intake, the ordering of tests and labs, diagnosis and treatment, including surgery. Nevertheless, we are taken advantage of terribly by the hospitals: assigned to 24-hour shifts, often undermined or treated poorly by senior doctors - sometimes when patients are present - and paid well below minimum wage. Our pay is fixed and it is assumed that we work only one-third of the hours in our assigned shifts; technically, we are considered merely "on call" during these shifts. We are required to be on the hospital grounds at all times, however, and we work far more than the assumed number of hours per shift. Over the past month, each resident has averaged 17.5 active hours of work during a 24-hour shift; further, while working, each resident has averaged only 3.5 hours of sleep at a time. Such working conditions are dangerous for both patients and residents; some serious mistakes have already been made and were caught only at the last minute by senior staff.
Statement by Hospital Board spokesperson:
We firmly believe that residents are an integral part of the medical care delivery team at our network of hospitals. At the same time, medical residencies are a part of the training process to become a physician; until someone has finished the residency, he or she is not, and cannot reasonably be considered, a licensed physician. Residencies function in much the manner of an apprenticeship of old: hands-on training under the supervision of a fully trained mentor. Residents are not expected to work 24 hours in a 24-hour shift, nor anywhere close to that. They are assigned such shifts merely to ensure that they are on-site when something occurs that would be beneficial to their training. If residents choose to participate in many routine activities that can ably be handled by the nursing or medical staff, that is the residents' choice. Further, the entire system is structured to provide both training and oversight; when a resident is called upon to make a diagnosis or perform a minor procedure, there is always an experienced physician on hand to verify the diagnosis, take over the procedure, or otherwise correct any potential errors.
For each of the following statements, select Both Agree if it can be inferred that the Medical Residency Association president and the Hospital Board spokesperson both agree with the statement. If not, select Otherwise.
Both Agree Otherwise
The degree to which there is a danger of lasting patient harm caused by medical resident errors.
Whether medical residents may work more than 8 hours during a 24-hour shift.
The degree to which a resident is as qualified as a licensed physician.
