The latest survey of junior doctors has found more than half at the Hunter’s largest hospital have made a “fatigue-induced error”.
The Australian Medical Association has released data from its recent Hospital Health Check and found 39 per cent of the junior doctors at the John Hunter Hospital reported that they’d made a fatigue-induced error on the job.
1700 doctors-in-training took the survey – 46 per cent of those doctors across the state said they made an error while overworked.
“Omicron wiped out the workforce. Staff furloughs meant longer hours for doctors-in-training who were forced to cover shifts for sick colleagues. Not having enough doctors impacts patients. When there is this much pressure on the health system both the safety of patients and doctors is compromised,” said AMA (NSW) Doctors-in-Training Committee Co-Chair, Dr Sanjay Hettige.
“The risk of human error increases with fatigue – small mistakes such a medication errors or poor communication during handovers can have ramifications. There is also the risk of staff becoming burnt out or suffering from poorer mental health, which we know can lead to higher rates of doctor suicide,” Dr Hettige said.
“The bottom line is – we need to build capacity in the system and the only way to that is to bolster the medical workforce. Hospitals need doctors – not substitutes.”
Maitland’s new hospital at Metford has been in the spotlight recently for all the wrong reasons and the junior doctors response there hasn’t given it any sort of leg up.
Only half of the junior doctors at Maitland felt like they were valued and only 43 per cent said they would recommend the hospital to anyone.
Of the 33 junior doctors 36 per cent say they’d made a fatigue-induced error and 61 per cent said they had felt concerned about their own health and safety at the hospital.
Junior doctors at the Calvary Mater Hospital had better responses.
Of the 29 junior doctors at that hospital, 75 per cent said they felt valued and only a quarter said they had made a fatigue-induced error on the job.