VCOM College Catalog and Student Handbook

• Maintaining a healthy diet • Avoid stimulants to keep you up • Avoid alcohol to help you sleep

• Using relaxation techniques to fall asleep • Maintaining a consistent sleep routine • Exercising regularly • Increasing sleep time before and after call • Ensuring sufficient sleep recovery periods

When a physician/student identifies him/herself or peers or an attending identifies the physician/student as being too fatigued to drive home there are several options: • Call rooms/sleep quarters are available at all facilities to use for a nap until the physician/resident/fellow is less fatigued • Public or private transportation if available may be utilized • Peers, attendings, family may be called to assist transporting fatigued trainees to their residence Professionalism by student and physicians is demonstrated through a personal role in the following: • Assurance of one’s fitness for duty. • Time management before, during and after clinical assignments. • Assurance of safety and welfare of patients. • Acting on impairment in oneself and others. • Healthcare professionals must be aware of the negative effects of sleep deprivation and fatigue on their ability to provide safe and effective patient care. Responsibilities of the Supervising Clinical Faculty Member If the supervising clinical faculty member or other healthcare professional believes there is sufficient evidence that a student on clinical assignment is excessively fatigued and/or stressed and appears to be unfit for duty (i.e. unable to provide safe patient care), the supervising clinical faculty member should immediately release the student from any further patient care responsibilities and the DSME and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs/Associate Dean for OMS 4 and GME must be notified within 24 hours. Depending on the clinical assignment and the circumstances (e.g. patient volume, acuity, assigned work area), backup may be called in to ensure the continuation of safe patient care. The supervising clinical faculty member should direct the fatigued student to rest at the hospital (e.g. call room) prior to driving home or ensure that alternate transportation is arranged. Any healthcare professional in the clinical setting has the authority and the responsibility to raise concern about observed fatigue in a student. The supervising clinical faculty member and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs/Associate Dean for OMS 4 and GME shall privately discuss their assessment with the fatigued/stressed student, attempt to identify the underlying reasons for impairment and discuss the circumstances of their release and fitness to return to duty. A student who is released from a clinical assignment due to fatigue must have permission to resume work from the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs/Associate Dean for OMS 4 and GME.

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