42hr/wk duty, night shift for faculty on med college code
Times of India | 4 January 2025
12 Kolkata: Faculty members at state medical colleges have to work seven hours a day and for 42 hours a week, spread over Monday to Saturday. In addition, they have to perform additional duties as and when assigned by their heads of department (HOD)s. Faculty members on call at night and not on floor duty cannot enjoy days off, says a comprehensive guideline that the state health department issued on Friday for medical colleges concerning both teaching and patient care services.
The norms detail faculty members' duty hours for teaching, patient care and indoor as well as outdoor services. The guideline has directed every medical college to enhance services at its emergency unit and increase the number of OPDs to reduce the waiting time for patients.
"Faculties have to be distributed equally in different units of clinical discipline, and each unit should have at least one faculty member on admission days. One faculty member of each unit should be present in the hospital at night on admission days so that senior residents on call can consult on treatment, referral, etc," read the guideline. The ward rounds by each unit are to be documented in a register. In addition to floor duties, assistant professors of clinical discipline should be assigned emergency duties.
Most principals of medical colleges said while the guideline was with good intention, there would be hiccups in implementing it, especially in colleges that did not have adequate faculty members.
Faculty members have to be present in OPDs on admission days from 9 am to 2 pm or until the last patient is attended to. The in-charge of every unit must ensure that a faculty member meets patients' relatives twice a day. The guideline says a patient admitted under one unit has to be managed by that unit itself, and in no way can the treatment be carried out by another unit. HODs must check on admitted patients of other units, apart from their own unit.
The guideline also mandates the presence of a faculty member in the central lab and radiology department after the usual duty hours for smooth 24x7 operations. "Faculty members must not engage in private practice in duty hours (9 am to 4 pm, Mondays to Saturdays) and also during floor, emergency, or on-call duty hours," said the guideline.
Every death of an admitted patient has to be audited. Unit in-charges must ensure proper recording of test reports in bed head tickets. Duty rosters of faculty members, senior residents, PGTs and house staff have to be displayed.