Almost half the junior doctors at Wollongong Hospital say they have made a fatigued-induced error, according to a new survey from the Australian Medical Association.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There were 83 doctors-in-training from Wollongong who participated in the 2022 Australian Medical Association NSW Hospital Health Check survey, with 49 per cent saying they had made a mistake due to the number of hours they worked.
This was higher than the state average of 46 per cent, which was up 8 points from the previous year's survey results.
Results were even worse at the Shoalhaven Hospital, where 11 junior doctors responded and 60 per cent said they had made a fatigue-related error.
The survey, conducted each year by the professional body for doctors, highlights the dire conditions being faced by interns, residents and registrars working in hospitals across NSW.
This year, 1766 respondents answered questions on rostering, overtime, leave and sick leave, unacceptable behaviour like bullying and discrimination, and hospital facilities, such as rest areas and safe parking.
The AMA's Doctors-in-Training committee co-chair Dr Sanjay Hettige said worsening conditions were linked to a surge in COVID cases, which meant doctors had to work longer hours to cover for sick colleagues, and the doctors shortage.
"When there is this much pressure on the health system both the safety of patients and doctors is compromised," Dr Hettige said.
"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."
The survey found that just under two-thirds of Wollongong doctors-in-training said they felt concerned about their own health and safety due to the number of hours they worked, and this rose to 90 per cent at Shoalhaven.
Also from the survey, individual hospitals with more than 10 respondents are given ratings from A to D for various measures.
Wollongong hospital scored D for rostering and facilities - with doctors saying they did not have good access to quality food, pager free meal breaks or places to sleep.
Only four per cent of Wollongong doctors said they had access to quality food at work, and 11 per cent said they got pager-free meal breaks.
Only one in four said they were satisfied with the hospital's place to sleep, the locker rooms and showers.
Wollongong Hospital also scored a C for sick leave, and a B for the overtime, leave and behaviours categories.
Dr Hettige said doctors-in-training were "at the coal face" of a system under tremendous pressure and needed better conditions and pay to keep them in the job.
"More people than ever are coming to hospital, and they are coming in sicker and staying longer," he said.
"We are working harder and longer, but under an Award that is more than 30 years old. For a significant number of doctors-in-training, those contract conditions were written before they were even born.
"NSW risks losing doctors-in-training to other States that offer better entitlements."
The Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District executive director of Medical Services and Clinical Governance, Dr Peter Jansen, said the district took the wellbeing its staff seriously, and had been focusing on improving conditions for junior doctors in 2022.
"The last two and a half years have been extremely challenging, and it is understandable that some staff may be feeling the impacts," he said.
"We encourage any health staff or frontline worker experiencing anxiety or feeling stressed to seek support as soon as possible."
Dr Jansen said patient care was always delivered by a multi-disciplinary team which ensured no single clinician was responsible alone for the delivery of safe care.
"Processes are in place to ensure critical and urgent pathology and radiology results are communicated to the referring doctor, and pharmacists review medication charts and discharge scripts," he said.
"All patient safety issues are identified, immediate risks mitigated, and actions taken to make systems improvements."
He also said an $87,000 refurbishment of the junior medical officer lounge at Wollongong had just been completed.
"The refurbishment included a new kitchen and upgrades to the on-call accommodation, loungeroom, bathroom and offices as well as a refurbishment of the outdoor space and new furniture," he said.
"Earlier this year, improvements were also made to the accommodation and office facilities at Elouera House, located on the Wollongong Hospital campus.:
"The District acknowledges that access to healthy food options after hours is important for our JMOs and we are working with HealthShare NSW to improve the meal choices available to our staff."
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Illawarra Mercury website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.