extracted from ST forum.
Review doctors' working hours, for safety's sake
I refer to the article, 'Checks in place to manage stress, fatigue'
(ST, Dec 2), which stated that pilots are not allowed to fly more
than 100 hours in any 28 consecutive days. This is to ensure that
they fly with full concentration and deliver passengers safely to
their destinations.
I wish to relate this to the plight of doctors here. Not long ago,
an article in Time magazine reported that in the United States,
around 98,000 deaths each year are the result of medical errors.
Could some of these errors be due to fatigue or poor
concentration?
I have friends who are junior doctors. They tell me their workday
typically starts at around 7am, when they prepare to do ward
rounds, after which the rest of the day is spent mostly in the
wards carrying out instructions given by senior doctors. Their day
theoretically ends at 5pm, but they do not usually leave before
6pm.
And when they have night duty, they work continuously from 5pm till
the next morning. Thereafter, they continue the morning's duties
like in any other day. They are allowed to leave only when they
have completed the tasks for that morning. Many a time, it can be
as late as mid-afternoon. That means they would have worked
non-stop for close to 24 hours. And these night duties can occur up
to six times a month.
These junior doctors are always stationed in the hospital wards and
if their concentration and competence are affected by fatigue, are
we not placing patients at risk?
Are we so short of doctors? Or are the hospitals swamped with too
many patients? As with passenger safety, when there are patients'
lives at stake, it makes sense for doctors' working hours to be
reviewed.
Chris Tan
