Shift Schedules and Intern Work Hours, Patient Numbers, Conference Attendance, and Sleep at a Single Pediatric Residency Program.

Objective: The effects of 2011 Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) duty hour standards on intern work hours, patient load, conference attendance, and sleep have not been fully determined. We prospectively compared intern work hours, patient numbers, conference attendance, sleep duration, pattern, and quality in a 2011 ACGME duty hour-compliant shift schedule with a 2003 ACGME duty hour-compliant call schedule at a single pediatric residency program.

Methods: Interns were assigned to shift or call schedules during 4 alternate months in the winter of 2010-2011.

Creating flexibility in pediatric resident education.

Introduction: Pediatric residency programs must meet the challenge of producing graduates who are prepared to enter primary care, subspecialty fellowships or another career path. Meeting this challenge requires flexibility, which can be difficult to achieve. A program with 2 half days of continuity clinic that offers an option for residents to use 1 half day for advocacy or research projects may offer such flexibility.

Practice parameters in child neurology: do pediatricians use them?

We assessed pediatrician awareness of the parameter ''Evaluating the first non-febrile seizure in children'' and how the concepts of this parameter were incorporated into practice. Although most reported caring for children with seizures, 60% were not aware of the practice parameter. When given the clinical scenario of an otherwise healthy 8-year-old child with a first, unprovoked seizure, management was variable.