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The organization that oversees the training of young doctors recommended Friday that first-year physicians in hospitals be allowed to work 24-hour shifts — eight hours longer than they are permitted now. If approved in February, the proposal by a task force of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education would go into effect in July, when the members of the next class of medical school graduates begin their residencies at teaching hospitals across the United States. (Bernstein, 11/4)

For years, medical interns have been limited to working no more than 16 hours without a break to minimize the chances they would make mistakes while fatigued. But that restriction could soon be eased. The group that sets the rules for medical residents proposed scrapping the 16-hour limit for interns, doctors in their first year of on-the-job training after finishing medical school. The new rule would let these new doctors work for as many as 28 hours at a stretch. (Stein, 11/4)

In a controversial move, the national body that oversees graduate medical education is looking to end the 16-hour shift limit for first-year residents. Under revised rules proposed Friday, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education would allow residency programs to assign first-year trainees to shifts as long as 28 hours, the current maximum for residents in later years. The proposed rules would not change the current maximum hours a resident can work per week at 80, averaged over four weeks. The decision comes amid fierce debate over whether longer shifts compromise patient safety and expose young residents to burnout that could shorten their careers, or even end them before they get started. (Ross, 11/4)