Professional values, value conflicts, and assessments of the duty-hour restrictions after six years: a multi-institutional study of surgical faculty and residents.

Background: the aim of this study was to explore professional values, value conflicts, and assessments of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's duty-hour restrictions.
Methods: questionnaires distributed at 15 general surgery programs yielded a response rate of 82% (286 faculty members and 306 residents). Eighteen items were examined via mean differences, percentages in agreement, and significance tests. Follow-up interviews with 110 participants were explored for main themes.
Results: residents and faculty members differed slightly with respect to core values but substantially as to whether the restrictions conflict with core values or compromise care. The average resident-faculty member gap for those 13 items was 35 percentage points. Interview evidence indicates consensus over professional values, a gulf between individualistic and team orientations, frequent moral dilemmas, and concerns about the assumption of responsibility by residents and "real-world" training.
Conclusions: the divide between residents and faculty members over conflicts between the restrictions, core values, and patient care poses a significant issue and represents a challenge in educating the next generation of surgeons.
(2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)