VI.E.1. Clinical Responsibilities
The clinical responsibilities for each resident must be based on PGY level, patient safety, resident ability, severity and complexity of patient illness/condition, and available support services. (Core)
[Optimal clinical workload may be further specified by each Review Committee.]
The changing clinical care environment of medicine has meant that work compression due to high complexity has increased stress on residents. Faculty members and program directors need to make sure residents function in an environment that has safe patient care and a sense of resident well-being. Some Review Committees have addressed this by setting limits on patient admissions, and it is an essential responsibility of the program director to monitor resident workload. Workload should be distributed among the resident team and interdisciplinary teams to minimize work compression.
VI.E.2. Teamwork
Residents must care for patients in an environment that maximizes communication. This must include the opportunity to work as a member of effective interprofessional teams that are appropriate to the delivery of care in the specialty and larger health system. (Core)
[Each Review Committee will define the elements that must be present in each specialty.]
VI.E.3. Transitions of Care
VI.E.3.a) Programs must design clinical assignments to optimize transitions in patient care, including their safety, frequency, and structure. (Core)
VI.E.3.b) Programs, in partnership with their Sponsoring Institutions, must ensure and monitor effective, structured hand-over processes to facilitate both continuity of care and patient safety. (Core)
VI.E.3.c) Programs must ensure that residents are competent in communicating with team members in the hand-over process. (Outcome)
VI.E.3.d) Programs and clinical sites must maintain and communicate schedules of attending physicians and residents currently responsible for care. (Core)
VI.E.3.e) Each program must ensure continuity of patient care, consistent with the program’s policies and procedures referenced in VI.C.2, in the event that a resident may be unable to perform their patient care responsibilities due to excessive fatigue or illness, or family emergency. (Core)