Duty hours of young hospital doctors: Effects on the quality of work

Abstract

A questionnaire was sent to 6 500 Junior and Senior House Officers in England, Scotland and Wales asking, among other questions, ‘Do you think that your hours of duty are so long as to impair your ability to work with adequate efficiency?’ Of the 2 452 who replied 37·3 per cent chose either ‘always’ or ‘often’ in preference to ‘occasionally’, ‘sometimes’, or ‘never’. The two highest ranking specialties were gynaecology and obstetrics (49·2 per cent) and orthopaedic (47·5 per cent), and the two lowest pathology (12·2 per cent) and psychiatry (8·5 per cent). Over the 24 hours immediately preceding receipt of the questionnaire the following average hours were reported: at work 12·76; on call, 8·24; free, 3·00; asleep, 6·00. The doctors were encouraged to append their own views at the end of the formal questions. 1 411 did so. The most frequent comments were those calling for a more efficient distribution of the hours of work.