- working an extended shift of 24 hours more than doubles your risk of being in a car crash
Well, here's a good news for House Officers! Although after reading this piece of news, i was still skeptical whether is it really true that we will get the day off after a 24-hour duty? wow! i thought that it was only true for the anesthetist and psychiatrist.
Having optimal manageable working hours is good, not just for the doctors, but also the patients.
however, i thnk that the government should also address the issue of shortage of doctors.... when they reduced the working hours, the number of HOs for each shift would be dispersed, thus less HO, more workload.. is that even possible?? seriously, we need more doctors in the government sector (like we all don't already know that..)...
And you wonder why there are still so many students who want to take up medicine... but of course, you and i know, no matter how tough life is, this can be a very rewarding job ^^ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
original article here
Thursday December 18, 2008
Day off after 24-hour duty for trainee doctors
KUALA TERENGGANU: Trainee doctors will now get a day off after carrying out their 24-hour on-call duty.Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the directive will take effect immediately.
He said it applies only to housemen on active call and at the hospital the entire time.
“We will not let these trainee doctors be overworked. We will look into their welfare,” he told reporters yesterday after visiting the Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital.
Pleased to meet you: Liow shaking hand with hospital staff members during his visit to Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital in Kuala Terengganu yesterday. Some trainee doctors complained that they had to work seven days a week without a single rest day during their two-year stint in government hospitals as housemen.
Liow said trainee doctors should also be allowed to concentrate on getting the right exposure and medical proficiency by giving them off-days.
A trainee doctor at Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital, who only wanted to be known as Sally, said she was relieved to hear that the ministry would look into their welfare.
“Frankly, we are very exhausted as we have to focus on our training and also carry out clinical rounds frequently,” she said. “It is stressful.”
Sally said she and her colleagues were unable to pay attention during their stints due to fatigue and time constraints.
On another matter, Liow said about 4,000 Chikungunya cases were reported throughout the country this year.
He said the virus was first detected in Johor and spread to several states, the latest being Kedah.
luckily i really able to read finish this post... the trainee doctor life is really tough.. how can a people work about 24 hours? not need to sleep meh? not sleep never mnd but must give some times to give doctors to blog somethings.. hehe
ReplyDeleteReminds me of my brother's feeling when they're in housemanship long time ago.... but they reap their rewards now & so will you :-)
ReplyDeletewah this is really good news! but then those hospitals not enuf drs wan how? ask patient come back another day? *shrug*
ReplyDeletebtw i think some of the drs are working more than 24 hrs a day. the next day they hvta continue work summore..
do they think about enuf manpower before roll out the decision??
ReplyDeletehow bout the small district hospital? where they always shortage of manpower??
Advice to MOH think twice before make a decision to be fair to all ppl
who serve the people..
ShinYin,
ReplyDeleteNice blog that you have. You write very well:) Some very good post, educational for general public(eg. your first baby autopsy)
Keep it up! Hope you continue to enjoy blogging when you start working. Sure you will not have the energy to do a 3 pages essay by then.
http://chenghiang.wordpress.com
sabahking, good to hear that you managed to finish reading this :) the idea of you reading my posts half way, and continuing it another day is just cute..
ReplyDeleterobinson crusoe, they all said that housemanship is one of the worst years... well, maybe it's not to bad.... maybe i might actually learn to enjoy it... we'll see.. ^^
anonymous,
i have to agree, that the shortage of manpower will be a problem... therefore, the solution still lies in increasing the numbers of doctors in the government sector.. how to provide the doctors with enough incentives to stay, is for the government to ponder upon.. i suppose, when this off day after 24 hours duty is implemented, the workload for each shift would increase tremendously, as less HO would be avail in each shift... you have a point too, MOH should think twice..
chenghiang,
thanks for the compliment *blushed*
guess what? you have just motivated me to continue blogging.. i dropped by your blog too! very interesting.. i am impressed that you actually can find the time to blog, besides having to work... ^^
zzzyun, yalor... the problem is not enough dr... and where can ask pt come back another day.. we not like doing business, -close shop, come back another day... :P
ReplyDeletemany countries, not just us, are having problems of shortage of drs, resulting in long working hours... sigh
yea.. actually if think properly, if u admitted the patient, the next day u off and the next next day need to do follow up tat time very susah. dun really know how it works. maybe stay in the hostel, free tat time go back and follow up. heheh :P
ReplyDeleteThat's a good start
ReplyDeleteI'm actually impressed the MOH has some sense.
Working 24 hours itself is a pretty bad shift, but at the minimum there should be a break after that.
Doctor shortage is a global problem.
The solution should not be as simpleminded as extending doctor working hours. How about increasing the number of training doctors? As far as I remember there are still a bunch of straight A students trying to get into medicine.
I kind of wonder where has all the docs been to since the gov service has been extended to 3 years.With the increasing number of docs every year, none of them can be found back in Malaysia soil as if they vanish in thin air.
ReplyDeleteIf the hospital wants to play a fool, they'll just work a HO for 20 hours or more (but less than 24 hours) and then rest you so u can work the next day without the day off. Wouldn't that be kind of ironic? :P
Shinyin,
ReplyDeletePlease link me up! :)
Drop by and do a few MCQs when you are free.
http://chenghiang.wordpress.com
bingwui, probably get off after passing over the patient, during the morning rounds..
ReplyDeletewinz, yup! doctor shortage has always been a problem... is there something in the system that needed to be improved?
yee ming, we should ask, why are drs leaving the government sector? for better pay? better opportunities?
chenghiang, sure.. i'll drop by when free... =) merry christmas and a happy new year!
Sounds good to me - how are we meant to learn should we have to spend all of our time working!
ReplyDelete