Should Shift work for House Officers be abolished?

One may question this after an enlightening letter by a House officer, Dr. Timothy Cheng, who wrote : Revamp current shift system The main issue that gave birth to this shift system was the concern for the well-being of the house officers. With the current shift system, continuity of care of patients is disappearing as house officers are not able to care for one patient longer than 12 hours at a stretch. Most doctors that have gone through the on-call system realise the stress and the workload it brings but are also thankful for the training and skills that it equips them with. As a house officer, I wish we had shifts that are at least 24 hours long, enabling us to follow patients’ progress closely. We have also forgotten that medical officers work with the on-call system. How are we supposed to function as medical officers in the future after two years of working with the shift system? It will only lead to a whole new breed of medical officers who cannot function after 12 hours of work, again to the detriment of patients under them. And the main drawback of the shift system is that it has given birth to a new breed of doctors that work with the “shift” in mind, putting their working hours before patient care and well-being. The shift system has reduced us to be pampered, mechanical robots that work just to complete a shift rather than to save lives. I hsve had (and still have) colleagues that disappear right on the dot after their shift ends, leaving work to the house ...
Source: Malaysian Medical Resources - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Tags: - Palmdoc - Training House officer Housemen Source Type: blogs