16-hour call duty schedules: the Quebec experience

Since 1 July 2012, as a result of a labour arbitration ruling in the province of Quebec and the subsequent agreement negotiated by the Fédération des médecins résidents du Québec, all 3,400 medical residents training in Quebec have been on a 16-hour duty schedule for in-house calls. This is a major change within medical teaching sites, as well as a professional and educational challenge for physicians-in-training and their supervisors. The Quebec ruling now raises similar issues for all medical residents in Canada because of its legal basis, namely the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.