You’d be hard-pressed to find a profession that has longer hours than healthcare—and extended shifts could be dangerously affecting the ability of doctors.
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Nobody gets into medicine expecting it to be a nice, relaxing job. Long hours are the norm; just ask any RMO. In fact, in 2014, resident doctors were working an average of 56.5 hours every week, which would be hard enough---but there are also known reports of doctors working up to 65 hours a week, and our own reports revealing some working up to 72 hours a week, with 16 hour shifts and sometimes even working 12 days in a row without a break.
Doctors are no strangers to hard work. But there comes a point where sleep deprivation for doctors can result in serious problems, not just for the mental health of the doctor themselves, but for the health of their patients too.
In fact, the working-hours problem became so bad that the New Zealand Resident Doctors Association (NZRDA) organised a national strike in late 2016, resulting in thousands of doctors walking off the job in protest. They succeeded in improving 144 rosters but still there is work to be done to protect resident doctors and their patients.
The decision to protest is not made lightly, especially when it could impact the health outcomes of patients. The reality is, however, that life as a resident doctor and the sleep deprivation and fatigue that comes with it was impacting the health outcomes of patients anyway.
Doctors are expected to make potentially life-endangering decisions every day. They need to be on top form to be effective and provide the best duty of care to their patients.
Doctors are expected to make potentially life-endangering decisions every day.
Long hours stop you from doing that---and we’ve got the science to prove it.
Health professionals working long shifts, particularly in hospitals where round-the-clock care is expected, have been shown to have reduced performance, more injuries, a higher chance of developing chronic diseases and even higher rates of obesity.
That would be bad enough, but it’s harming patients as well as the doctors. In fact, one study from New Zealand showed that almost half of all doctors could recall a fatigue-related clinical error occurring over a 6 month period---and those are just the ones they can remember!
Doctors, sleep deprivation and the fatigue associated with long hours don’t mix well together, but there is a solution: there is evidence that the absolute maximum anyone, including doctors, should be working per week is about 43.5 hours.
Interestingly, that includes domestic work as well, so if you’re juggling being a doctor and looking after the home at the same time, then you are doubly at risk.
With all this evidence that our doctors are tired and their performance is suffering from it, is there any sign that people have taken notice and are pushing for long hours to go the same way as the dodo?
The NZRDA have been campaigning for safer working hours for doctors, and it has seen some significant progress at the time of writing.
Thankfully, yes. The NZRDA have been campaigning for safer working hours for doctors, and it has seen some significant progress at the time of writing. You can read more about it here.
Until further progress is made on long working hours for resident doctors, they will need to rely on medical indemnity insurance to be there to protect them against the risk of serious mistakes while fatigued.
You can find out more about medical indemnity insurance and how it protects you with our free ebook, available below.