Objective: The study assessed family medicine residents’ overall satisfaction with the resident duty hour restriction implemented in 2019 and explored their perceptions of the impacts of the restriction on their well-being, education, and patient safety. The study further compared the differences in residents’ perceptions based on the level of residency training, size of residency training program, and level of training hospital.
Methods: Residents admitted to the family medicine residency training program by the Taiwan Association of Family Medicine from 2017 to 2019 were selected to participate in this study. A prospective anonymous questionnaire survey was administered to family medicine residents nationwide to gather their opinions and suggestions regarding the newly implemented resident duty hour reform.
Results: A total of 286 family medicine residents responded to the questionnaire survey. Nearly 90% of the residents were satisfied with the current duty hour regulations and found the restriction unlikely to compromise the quality of residency training. First-year residents reported a greater frequency of working overtime, compared to residents of other levels. The more senior the residents, the stronger the belief that duty hour restriction reduced time for learning and faculty guidance; however, the majority of the responding residents were of the opinion that the restriction did not affect the overall quality of residence training. Over 50% of the first-year residents felt the restriction helped reduced the likelihood of medical error, while more senior residents found the likelihood unchanged. Regardless of the levels of their training hospitals, a great part of the residents found the problems of fatigue and daytime sleepiness alleviated, yet there was still a minority of residents in regional and district hospitals felt the problems aggravated.
Conclusion: After the implementation of duty hour restriction, most family medicine residents are satisfied with the current regulations and feel no significant impact of the restriction on the quality of residency training. In their opinion, there is no need to extend the length of residency training. The duty hour reform does exert positive influences on their physical and mental health and bring about no impact on patients’ safety and quality of care.