ACGME’s new plan: ‘It’s gonna exploit residents and hurt patient care’
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Emergency medicine is already on life support—burnout is skyrocketing, residency applications are plummeting, and hospitals are squeezing every last drop out of their staff. Now, according to a new video by emergency physician J. Mack Slaughter Jr., MD, ACGME just made it worse.
In a viral Instagram post, Dr. J. Mack calls out the ACGME for changing emergency medicine residency training. The details are murky, but the fear is crystal clear: doctors say EM residents are about to be used as cheap labor to cover workforce shortages and not trained to be the best doctors they can be.
“The ACGME just made a decision that will negatively impact EM residents, with zero evidence to support it,” Dr. J. Mack said. “It’s gonna exploit residents and hurt patient care.”
Residency or cheap labor?
We know residency is brutal—but there’s a difference between tough training and being thrown to the wolves. If the ACGME’s changes mean residents are taking on more shifts, seeing more patients, or getting less supervision, let’s be real: This isn’t about education. It’s about hospitals saving money.
Emergency departments are already staffing up with fewer attendings and more advanced practice providers to cut costs.[] Now, are they going to lean on residents to fill the gaps too? If hospitals are treating trainees like a cheap stopgap for their staffing crisis, that’s not training—it’s exploitation.
“Residents are already overworked. Now they’re expected to do more, with less support? Who thought this was a good idea?” Dr. J Mack questioned.
Related: 'I'm done being quiet about what's going on in healthcare'When residents burn out, patients suffer
Let’s not forget what happens when you push already exhausted residents even harder: Mistakes increase, and patient care suffers. Overworked, unsupervised residents aren’t just at risk for burnout—they’re at risk for missing critical diagnoses, making errors, and getting thrown under the bus when something goes wrong.
So, what’s the endgame here? Fewer EM docs, more overworked trainees, and worse patient outcomes? Sounds like a losing formula for everyone—except the people controlling the budgets.
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