Background  

Residents have a major role in teaching students, yet little has been written about the effects of resident work hour restrictions on medical student education.

Objective  

Our objective was to determine the effects of resident work hour restrictions on medical student education.

Design  

We compared student responses pre work hour restrictions with those completed post work hour restrictions.

Participants  

Students on required Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Pediatric clerkships at the University of Minnesota.

Measurements  

Two thousand eight hundred twenty-five student responses on end-of-clerkship surveys.

Results  

Students reported 1.6 more hours per week of teaching by residents (95%CI 0.8–2.6) in the post work hours era. Students’ ratings of the overall quality of their teaching on the ward did not change appreciably, 0.05 points’ decline on a 5-point scale (P = .05). Like the residents, students worked fewer hours per week (avg. 1.5 hours less, 95%CI 0.4–2.6). There was no change in quality or quantity of attending teaching, students’ relationships with their patients, or the overall value of the clerkships.

Conclusions  

Whereas resident duty hour restrictions at our institution have had minimal effect on students’ ratings of the overall teaching quality, they do report being taught more by their residents. This may be a factor of decreased resident fatigue or an increased sense of well-being; but more study is needed to clarify the causes of our observations.