Almost 47 per cent of doctors-in-training at Dubbo Hospital are concerned with "making a clinical error due to fatigue caused by hours worked", according to new data released on Thursday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Additionally, doctors-in-training are not immune to work pressures, with 52.94 per cent of respondents saying they didn't take sick leave when they shouldn't be at work.
These people cited "concerns about increasing workloads for other team members" and "workplace culture" as reasons for the added stress.
The Western Local Health District have made a change to factor fatigue in junior doctors.
'In recognition that hours of work were a major contributing factor to burn-out, stress levels and wellbeing, last year NSW Health introduced safe work standards including a maximum 14-hours for rostered shifts and a minimum 10-hour break between shift," A Western LHD spokesperson said
The data is sourced from the Alliance NSW Hospital Health Check. which surveyed 1958 doctors-in-training throughout 2019.
The anonymous data was gathered to provide hospitals with grades in five different domains; overtime and rostering, access to leave, wellbeing, education and training, morale and culture.
Of the respondents, 26 per cent were interns, 19 per cent were residents, 10 per cent were senior resident medical officers. Five per cent of the respondents were unaccredited specialty training registrars, 35 per cent were accredited specialty training registrars and three per cent were fellows.
While 57 per cent of respondents were females, 42 per cent were males and less than one percent were non-binary.
Overall, the Dubbo Hospital was ranked 'B' in the Hospital Health check.
Grades 'A' and 'B' are regarded as positive and grades 'D' and 'F' as negative. the Western NSW Local Health District received a 'B' and NSW as a whole received a 'C'.
According to the survey the Western Local Health District has an 'A' in morale and culture, 'B' grades in access to leave and education and training and 'C' grades in overtime and rostering and wellbeing.
Got something to say? Send a letter to the editor by filing out the form below.