67k Petition Signatures to Be Delivered Asking ACGME to Reject Dangerous 28-Hour Shifts for New Doctors
Today, Care2, Public Citizen, the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), and Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU Healthcare) will deliver more than 67,000 Care2 petition signatures at the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) board meeting in Chicago, urging the board to reject a proposal that would endanger medical residents and their patients by allowing new doctors to work 28-hour shifts.
Kelsey Bourgeois, Care2 Campaign Writer and spouse of a first-year resident; Care2 petition supporters; AMSA members will deliver the petitions today, Friday, February 3, 2017 at 9 a.m. CDT, to ACGME headquarters, 401 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago.
The ACGME is considering a proposal to eliminate the current 16-hour shift cap for first-year medical residents and to allow them to work 28 consecutive hours with no sleep. This proposal is opposed by the vast majority of the American public as shown in a poll commissioned by Public Citizen and conducted by Lake Research Partners last summer.
The ACGME board is expected to vote on the proposal within the next few weeks. The new requirements would take effect at the beginning of the next residency academic year (July 2017).
The groups that gathered the petition signatures are Public Citizen, Care2, and AMSA.
See a video of former resident Stephanie Waggel, MD, talking about her experience working dangerously long shifts.
VIEW THE CARE2 PETITION HERE: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/271/377/950/
Care2 (www.Care2.com) is a community of 38 million standing together for good. People are making world-changing impact with Care2, starting petitions and supporting each other’s campaigns to help individuals, animals and the environment. A pioneer of online advocacy since 1998, Care2 is a B Corporation, or social enterprise, using the power of business as a force for good.
