Dataset Information

Working hours, common mental disorder and suicidal ideation among junior doctors in Australia: a cross-sectional survey.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Despite concern regarding high rates of mental illness and suicide amongst the medical profession, the link between working hours and doctors' mental health remains unclear. This study examines the relationship between average weekly working hours and junior doctors' (JDs') mental health in Australia.

Design and participants

A randomly selected sample of 42?942 Australian doctors were invited to take part in an anonymous Beyondblue National Mental Health Survey in 2013, of whom 12?252 doctors provided valid data (response rate approximately 27%). The sample of interest comprised 2706 full-time graduate medical trainees in various specialties, at either intern, prevocational or vocational training stage. Consultants and retired doctors were excluded.

Outcome measures

Main outcomes of interest were caseness of common mental disorder (CMD) (assessed using a cut-off of 4 as a threshold on total General Health Questionnaire-28 score), presence of suicidal ideation (SI) (assessed with a single item) and average weekly working hours. Logistic regression modelling was used to account for the impact of age, gender, stage of training, location of work, specialty, marital status and whether JDs had trained outside Australia.

Results

JDs reported working an average of 50.1 hours per week (SD=13.4). JDs who worked over 55 hours a week were more than twice as likely to report CMD (adjusted OR=2.05; 95% CI 1.62 to 2.59, p<0.001) and SI (adjusted OR=2.00; 95% CI 1.42 to 2.81, p<0.001) compared to those working 40-44 hours per week.

Conclusions

Our results show that around one in four JDs are currently working hours that are associated with a doubling of their risk of common mental health problems and SI. These findings suggest that management of working hours represents an important focus for workplaces to improve the mental health of medical trainees.

SUBMITTER: Petrie K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7045753 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Working hours, common mental disorder and suicidal ideation among junior doctors in Australia: a cross-sectional survey.

Petrie Katherine K Crawford Joanna J LaMontagne Anthony D AD Milner Allison A Dean Jessica J Veness Benjamin G BG Christensen Helen H Harvey Samuel B SB

BMJ open 20200121 1

<h4>Objective</h4>Despite concern regarding high rates of mental illness and suicide amongst the medical profession, the link between working hours and doctors' mental health remains unclear. This study examines the relationship between average weekly working hours and junior doctors' (JDs') mental health in Australia.<h4>Design and participants</h4>A randomly selected sample of 42 942 Australian doctors were invited to take part in an anonymous Beyondblue National Mental Health Survey in 2013, ...[more]

PMID: 31964674

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Project description:ObjectiveTo explore the effects of the UK Working Time Regulations (WTR) on trainee doctors' experience of fatigue.DesignQualitative study involving focus groups and telephone interviews, conducted in Spring 2012 with doctors purposively selected from Foundation and specialty training. Final compliance with a 48 h/week limit had been required for trainee doctors since August 2009. Framework analysis of data.Setting9 deaneries in all four UK nations; secondary care.Participants82 doctors: 53 Foundation trainees and 29 specialty trainees. 36 participants were male and 46 female. Specialty trainees were from a wide range of medical and surgical specialties, and psychiatry.ResultsImplementation of the WTR, while acknowledged as an improvement to the earlier situation of prolonged excessive hours, has not wholly overcome experience of long working hours and fatigue. Fatigue did not only arise from the hours that were scheduled, but also from an unpredictable mixture of shifts, work intensity (which often resulted in educational tasks being taken home) and inadequate rest. Fatigue was also caused by trainees working beyond their scheduled hours, for reasons such as task completion, accessing additional educational opportunities beyond scheduled hours and staffing shortages. There were also organisational, professional and cultural drivers, such as a sense of responsibility to patients and colleagues and the expectations of seniors. Fatigue was perceived to affect efficiency of skills and judgement, mood and learning capacity.ConclusionsLong-term risks of continued stress and fatigue, for doctors and for the effective delivery of a healthcare service, should not be ignored. Current monitoring processes do not reflect doctors' true working patterns. The effectiveness of the WTR cannot be considered in isolation from the culture and context of the workplace. On-going attention needs to be paid to broader cultural issues, including the relationship between trainees and seniors.

Dataset Information

Working hours, common mental disorder and suicidal ideation among junior doctors in Australia: a cross-sectional survey.

Objective

Design and participants

Outcome measures

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Working hours, common mental disorder and suicidal ideation among junior doctors in Australia: a cross-sectional survey.

Similar Datasets

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