Introduction

The Human Rights-Based Approach to Health (ESBDH) postulates that poor training and unfavorable working conditions of human resources for health not only hinders the protection of the right to health, but can be, paradoxically, an important source of violations to it. Can specialist medical training programs violate their right to education and decent work?

Objective

Know the opinion of resident physicians on the fact that their right to education and decent work must be respected.

Method

A cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in a non-random sample of 605 resident doctors from a public university located in Mexico to. A 32-item (Cronbach's alpha = 0.931)Likert questionnaire was carried out anonymously, confidentially and voluntarily to assess the residents' opinions on their rights to education and decent work being respected. Simple frequencies are presented and, in a nutshell, the overall score regarding respect for the law and the percentage of favorable and unfavorable events and the score obtained for each item.

Results

The average age of the participants was 29.5 years (± 2.9), 58% men, 78.5% single and 79% with no children. 80% of respondents worked more than 80 hours a week. 65% of residents were first and second year. Most of residents (87%) considered there was a medium or greater level of respect for their rights. The overall score of respect was 57%. The percentage of favorable events was 55% and unfavorable events or rights violation was that of 36%.

Conclusions

In the light of the human rights-based approach to health, the current training system for medical specialists should be reviewed.