Is out-of-hours experience out-of-touch?

摘要

Sir,Concerns over surgical trainees gaining less clinical experience have arisen following limitation of working hours by the European Working Time Directive.In addition, the Joint Committee on Surgical Training and surgical advisory committee now stipulate that Ears, Nose and Throat (ENT) trainees should complete 300 nights on-call for acquisition of certificate of completion of training.In the current context, doing a 24-h on-call or a night shift would result in the trainee having to take time off work during the working week to meet the European Working Time Directive.