Night float in residency: the limits
Updated October 12, 2026 · with an example to try
Night float is a rotation of night shifts that covers admissions and cross-cover overnight. The ACGME requires it to fit within 80 hours a week and one day off in seven, both averaged over four weeks, and sets no limit of its own on nights in a row, though your program may set one. Internal medicine adds caps (6.26.a and 6.26.b): at most 2 months of night float a year, 4 in the whole residency and 1 month in a row.
Plan a year of night float
Example · runs in your browser; nothing you enter is sent
Tap the blocks on night float (an academic year, from July)
- Months of night float this year
- 2 of 2
- Longest run
- 1 month (limit 1)
Within the internal medicine caps: at most 2 months of night float a year, 4 in the whole residency and 1 month in a row.
Each block is 4 weeks, so 13 make a year; many programs schedule this way. ACGME Common Program Requirements 6.26 and Internal Medicine requirements 6.26.a and 6.26.b, effective July 1, 2026.
Tap the 4-week blocks you spend on nights. The counts turn red when a year breaks the internal medicine caps.
The rule for every specialty
The Common Program Requirements set no number of months. Night float must fit within the 80-hour week and one day off in seven, averaged over four weeks (6.26), and each specialty's Review Committee may set a maximum number of consecutive weeks and of months a year.
Internal medicine
- At most 2 months of night float a year and 4 months in the whole residency (6.26.a).
- At most 1 month of night float in a row (6.26.b).
- Overnight shifts in the ICU, the CCU and emergency medicine don't count as night float.
The planner counts in 4-week blocks, each standing for a month of night float, so it can't show 2-week night float. A program that schedules by calendar month counts each calendar month instead.
Nights on your own calendar
To count the nights on your own schedule, add your calendar to the night check. What counts as a night shift explains how swing shifts count.
Common questions
- How many months of night float can an internal medicine resident do?
- At most 2 months a year and 4 in the whole residency, with no more than 1 month in a row. Overnight ICU, CCU and emergency medicine shifts don't count.
- Does night float count toward the 80 hours?
- Yes. Night float must fit within the 80-hour week and one day off in seven, both averaged over four weeks.
Check your own schedule against these rules.
Use the free duty-hour check with your calendar link, the subscribe link your scheduling app gives you, or a calendar file. Our server reads a link once, sends back only the shift times and keeps nothing; a file never leaves your device. No account needed (what the checks see).