The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has offered some respite to doctors who work through their illness. Study results showed the incidence of 58% resident doctors working even in sickness at least once, given that there are demanding rules for how much training time is reqired, with doctors having to put in the hours.

Mr. Fried , who is the president of APDIM- the Association of Program Directors in the category of Internal Medicine expounded on the ABIM writ. The American Board of Internal Medicine gave out that the organizations should give a credit of one month maximum as a leave for a 3 year period, for leave in emergency situations.

Resident doctors had earlier expressed their woes over putting in 80 hours for a hospital, with hospitals saying doctors would fake illness if given leeway, and stay put at home for a minor cough and cold case. But the ABIM verdict proposes a more balanced lookout for doctors on whom work is taking a toll in terms of health.

Complicated rules on the mandatory amount of hours for a doctor to be declared as competent meant that overworked doctors reported to work, a situation exacerbated in facilities facing a staff shortage crunch.

The presenteeism problem was reaching endemic proportions, so it was a welcome lease of life that came from ABIM last month . With the ABIM exam results that were due now out, fresh docs can look forward to a congenial work climate.

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