NEW POLICY IN JIPMER

The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) has made a huge change in the Medical policy of the country. The Healthcare policy has asked the Medical Institution like the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research to place a cap on the number of hours resident doctors give to the health of the patients. 

This move by Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research to place a cap on resident doctors’ duty hours at 12 hours per shift and 48 hours per week is a big move of policy change—especially in the context of India’s traditionally demanding residency schedules.

The move has come out after the long duty hours down south.The doctors of the private hospitals in some of the states down south went on a protest and stopped providing their services. The Government of that state has a huge amount of pressure in terms of providing a certain amount of money in healthcare services. Not providing a certain amount in healthcare services will, obviously, lead to a turmoil in the state.  

Resident doctors welcoming the decision isn’t surprising. Long, continuous shifts (often 24–36 hours in many institutions) have been a very big amount of worry, contributing to fatigue in doctors, burnout amongst them and even medical errors. By limiting shift length and total weekly hours, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate of Medical Education and Research is going more close to all around the globe norms seen in places like the United States and countries of Europe, where duty hour policies have been enforced to protect doctors and patients.

From a practical context, we might see this based on the health of doctors.  

• Doctors who take proper rest have been seen to be a better Doctors of patients. 
• Reduced burnout and mental health strain among residents. Doctors who don’t have burnout issues can handle situations better. 
• A more structured work-life balance is quite rare in medical training. 

If the JIPMER policies works, we might see these kind of policies in other hospitals.