OVERWORKED HOUSEMEN ‘MAKE FIVE TIMES AS MANY SERIOUS DIAGNOSTIC ERRORS’

Their working hours must be reviewed, urges Malaysian Medical Association

AREVIEW is needed of the working hours for front-line hospital staff. This would be crucial for medical personnel working in hospitals, said the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA).

In making the call to the Health Ministry yesterday, MMA president Dr Ravindran R. Naidu said proactive steps were needed to address the issue of overworked medical personnel.

He said the ministry must take care of the wellbeing of healthcare personnel who often worked long hours and experienced sleepless nightshifts.

“Special attention must be given to those in highly stressful specialities, such as handling anaesthesia as well as in critical care, emergency medicine, trauma, obstetrics and paediatrics,” he said.

Dr Ravindran was responding to Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s revelation that there were 623 road accidents involving healthcare personnel between 2014 and last year.

Of the total, 554 were commuting accidents, while 69 were cases that occurred when employees were heading home.

Dr Ravindran said the ministry should encourage supervisors to identify those who might be suffering from chronic fatigue as a result of sleep deprivation.

He said other steps that could be taken included establishing and enforcing limits on work hours for healthcare providers and providing comfortable facilities for doctors to rest while on duty and after.

“The ministry should also enforce mandatory rest in hospitals or provide alternative transport to personnel who have worked more than 16 hours.”

Dr Ravindran said recent studies found that doctors-in-training who frequently had long shifts often had the following problems:

THEY experience 36 per cent more injuries from needles and other sharp objects when they work up to 16 hours, and the risk increases to 61 per cent if they work up to 20 hours;

THEY make five times as many serious diagnostic errors;

THEY have twice as many attention failures while working at night;

THE risk of motor vehicle crashes doubles if they drive home after 24 hours of work; and,

THEIR performance decreases to a level similar to if they had a blood alcohol level of 0.05 to 0.10 per cent.

MMA and other similar nongovernmental organisations held a meeting with the Road Safety Council, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research and Road Transport Department, and will launch an awareness campaign among healthcare workers on the dangers of driving while fatigued.