• Capping all resident-physician work shifts at 12 to 16 hours.
  • Making work-hour compliance a condition for residency programs to receive Medicare support.
  • Identifying "in real time" when a resident is overworked and additional staff needs to be called in.
"The report ... came out of a conference held last summer at Harvard Medical School.
The article, "Implementing the 2009 Institute of Medicine Recommendations on Resident Physician Work Hours, Supervision, and Safety: Report from a Conference at Harvard Medical School," is available in the June 24 issue of the online journal Nature and Science of Sleep.