tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2308282620289958037.post1279705281285504135..comments2023-08-08T08:41:19.586-04:00Comments on The Medical Contrarian: Duty hours and what constitutes workThe Medical Contrarianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09240492315542223258noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2308282620289958037.post-10254242675513940352010-08-01T19:29:58.722-04:002010-08-01T19:29:58.722-04:00This is absolutely true, and I agree that it is ve...This is absolutely true, and I agree that it is very unfortunate. When I was a first year resident, I had several patients on whose behalf I spent a considerable amount of time advocating even while I was not on hospital premises. This included speaking with local charities about funding the patients’ palliative therapy, speaking with the patients’ extended family by phone (who could not come to the hospital during regular daytime hours), and in one instance even speaking at length with a local lawyer about the fine points of the definition of ‘emergency’ treatment. When I found myself spending many hours on one particular patient, I asked my chief resident whether I should be including this time when reporting my duty hours. He told me that off the top of his head he thinks it would be obvious that I should. However, he ‘double-checked’ with the program director, who replied (after quoting the official definition of work hours) that this time should definitely not be counted. <br />I was very disappointed to learn that all the time I spent writing “H&P’s” and progress notes (often having to include irrelevant information so that a sufficient number of ‘items’ was covered in order to satisfy the billing office) counted as work. The actual activity of working to help patients didn’t ‘count.’MedicalResidentnoreply@blogger.com