Dartmouth Medical School

For Release: February 6, 2006
Contact: Andy Nordhoff (603) 653-653-0784

Dr. David Glass Honored For Leadership in Reducing Residents' Hours

HANOVER, NH - In recognition for his leadership in overseeing the implementation of the new duty hour standards for medical residents, Dr. David Glass, professor of anesthesiology and medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, has been chosen to receive the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's John C. Gienapp award. The award, which recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to graduate medical education, is named after the ACGME's first executive director, Dr. John C. Gienapp.

"The ACGME has significantly advanced the wellbeing of residents and the patients they serve by taking innovative steps to improve the quality of medical education in the US," said Dr. Glass, chair of anesthesiology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. "I am honored to receive the John C. Gienapp Award and look forward to many more years of collaboration."

Under the leadership of Dr. Glass, the ACGME's duty hour subcommittee advised the Board on the implementation of the duty hour standards. The standards limit resident duty hours to 80 hours a week, averaged over four weeks, and set other restrictions on duty hours. The standards were widely viewed in the academic medical community as a milestone in graduate medical education because they marked the first time that residents in all specialties had restrictions on their duty hours, and they have been a catalyst for a paradigm shift in the structuring of residency programs.

"By setting guidelines to limit residents work hours to less than 80 hours a week, we have taken the first step to better understand and acknowledge the importance of fatigue on residents ability to learn and their ability to participate in the delivery of safe and effective patient care," said Dr. Glass. "The ACGME's recognition of duty hours as one important aspect of the entire learning environment will help us to do the research that will design better learning experiences going forward."

"Dr. Glass has devoted decades to the improvement of graduate medical education through extensive volunteer work with the certifying boards, residency review committees and the ACGME itself," said Dr. David Leach executive director of the ACGME. "He is very committed to patient safety, quality education and bringing professional values into the new world. His substantial intellect and practice approach to improvement have inspired us all."

In addition to chairing the Council's duty hours subcommittee from 2002 to 2004, Dr. Glass served as a member of the ACGME's Residency Review Committee for Anesthesiology from 1992 to 1996, and has been a director on the ACGME Board since 1996. He served as treasurer from 2001 to 2002, and chaired the Monitoring Committee from 2002 to 2003. Dr. Glass will receive his award at a Feb. 14 dinner held during the ACGME's winter meeting in Rosemont, Illinois.

The ACGME is a private, non-profit organization that accredits about 8,000 medical residency programs in 27 medical specialties that educate nearly 100,000 medical residents.

-DMS-