134. THE 80 HOUR WORK WEEK: IMPACT ON RESIDENT SURGICAL EXPOSURE AND NATIONAL IN-TRAINING EXAM SCORES

Abstract

Purpose: The current study examines the impact of the 80-hour work week on the number of surgical cases performed by PGY2 – PGY5 Orthopedic residents. We also evaluated Orthopaedic In-training Exam (OITE) scores during the same time period.

Method: Data were collected from the ACGME national database for 3 academic years prior to and 5 years after July 1, 2003. CPT surgical procedure codes logged by all residents three years prior to and five years following implementation of the 80-hour work week were compared. The average raw OITE scores for each class obtained during the same time period were also evaluated. Data were reported as the mean ± standard deviation (SD) and group means were compared using independent t-tests.

Results: No statistical difference was noted in the number of surgical procedure codes logged prior to or after institution of the 80-hour week during any single year of training. However, an increase in the number of CPT codes logged in the PGY-3 year after 2003 did approach significance (457.7 vs. 551.9, p=0.057). There was a statistically significant increase in total number of cases performed (464.4 vs. 515.5 p=0.048). No statistically significant difference was noted in the raw OITE scores before or after work hour restrictions for our residents or nationally.

Conclusion: We found no statistical difference for each residency class in the average number of cases performed or OITE scores. We also found no statistical difference in the national OITE scores. Our data suggest that the impact of the 80 hour work has not had a detrimental effect in these two resident training measurements.