What the duty-hour check shows
- Hours a week in each 4-week block, against the 80-hour limit (6.20). Pick the day a rotation started so the blocks match your rotations.
- One day off in seven, averaged over 4 weeks (6.21.b), and the longest continuous scheduled work: 24 hours, plus up to 4 for handoffs (6.22).
- Time off between shifts, which should be 8 hours (6.21), 14 hours off after 24 hours of in-house call (6.21.a), and in-house call no more often than every third night on average (6.27). A calendar doesn't say whether call is in the hospital, so any scheduled period of 24 hours or more counts as in-house call.
- For emergency medicine residents on emergency medicine rotations: 12 hours at most in the emergency department, time off as long as the shift, 72 hours a week in all and one full day off in every seven (6.17.a). The 60-hour limit on hours with patients isn't checked: a calendar shows your shifts, not which hours you spent with patients. For internal medicine residents, night float: at most 1 month in a row, 2 months a year and 4 in residency (6.26).
Each rule shows its section and comes from the ACGME requirements effective July 1, 2026. Every rule in plain words.
What a calendar can't show
A calendar shows the time you were scheduled, not the hours you worked. Staying past sign-out, moonlighting, clinical work from home and patient care during home call all count toward the 80 hours, but a work calendar rarely shows them. Treat these numbers as the floor of your hours.
The ACGME averages by rotation and leaves out vacation and leave days. This check uses 4-week blocks from the day you pick and can't see leave, so a block with leave reads low: with a week of vacation, 3 weeks of 80 hours read as 60 a week.
Your results stay with you
The results are on your screen only. Nothing goes to your program, and nothing is kept unless you save your calendar to a free account.
If your shifts are in another calendar
These pages show where to find the link or file: Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar and a calendar file.
What happens to your calendar
Capillary's server fetches a calendar link once and, unless you choose to save it, keeps neither the link nor your shifts. It sends back only each entry's start and end time, and which ones it left out as on call or short: no titles, places or notes. Your browser does all the counting, and the results go nowhere.
A calendar file stays on your device. Your browser reads it.
If you save your calendar to a free account so it stays up to date, Capillary keeps the link or the file, encrypted, for up to 24 hours while you sign up. When you open Calendars in your new account, it's added there and the saved copy is deleted.
Anyone who has your calendar link can see your shifts, so don't post it anywhere public.
Common questions
- Does the check count call?
- Call shifts, like "Call" or "24-hour call", count as work, and any scheduled period of 24 hours or more counts as in-house call for the every-third-night and 14-hour rules. Entries named on call, backup, jeopardy, standby or sick call are left out at first, because you work them only when called in; check the box under the results to count them.
- Do conferences count?
- Yes, they count toward the 80 hours. The check leaves out entries under 3 hours at first, because many are meetings; if yours are conferences, check the box under the results.
- Does 24-hour call count as a night?
- Yes. It covers all of night hours, 22:30 to 06:30, so it counts as a night shift.
- Why were all-day entries skipped?
- An all-day entry has no start or end time, so its hours can't be counted. If your call shows as all-day, your hours read low and the call rules go unchecked.
- Why do my 4-week blocks start on a Monday?
- Without a start date, the blocks run from the Monday 4 weeks before this week. The ACGME averages over a rotation, so enter the day yours started and the blocks follow it.
- Does my program see my results?
- No. The numbers are worked out on this page and sent nowhere. A free account doesn't share them either: no one in your program, department or hospital sees your My hours or Analytics pages.