The Impact of Work Hours and Schedules on the Physical and Psychological Well-Being in Medical Practices

Abstract

In a random sample of just over 300 medical doctors and consultants throughout Germany, various job-related variables were assessed together with sociodemographic data including time-related parameters of work, and specific categories of accidents (moving vehicle and work-related). Occupational stress was related to number of weekly working hours, duration of the lunch-break, as well as age. Moving vehicle accidents (MVAs) were significantly correlated with the incidence of work-related accidents during the last year. There was no evidence that medical doctors working longer weekly hours were more likely to be involved in a driving or work-related accident per se, but they did tend to report more accidents during house visits. Moving vehicle accidents were best predicted by the onset of working day as well as the number of dependent children (more children associated with less accidents). Furthermore, work-related accidents were significantly more frequent in larger communities and when surgeries were later in finishing. The implication of these findings are discussed.

Job related affective well-being among primary health care physicians

“…13 Low levels of job satisfaction are closely related with poor mental health; this is a downward spiral: poor mental health has an adverse impact on patient care which in turn further upsets the physician. 6,7,9,12,14,16,18,[27][28][29][30] As a conclusion, primary health care physicians' job related negative emotional perceptions were associated with reactions in terms of stress, anxiety and depression, and further studies that focus on these issues in a qualitative manner are needed. Because primary health care physicians' job related affective well-being matter, they were serving as gate-keepers for the health of the whole nation.…”

“…4 Studies focused on primary health care physicians mostly assessed the sources of stress and predictors of job satisfaction among GPs, and indicated how job stress affects levels of job satisfaction. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Time pressure, interruptions, practice administration, dealing with difficult patients and work/home conflict were found as the main sources of stress for GPs. [12][13][14][15] In Australia, 68% of GPs that were questioned were satisfied with their job; 16 in the US, the satisfaction level increased to 82% among primary care physicians.…”

Occupational stress, job satisfaction and health state in male and female junior hospital doctors in Greece

“…The issue of temporal parameters and their influence on the performance and medical errors has been addressed in the literature during the last twenty years (the more recent being the ones by Kirckaldy et al, 1997Kirckaldy et al, , 2002Trimpop et al, 2000). Sleep deprivation related to demanding work schedules has also been linked to poorer work performance in JHDs (Spurgeon and Harrington, 1989).…”

Impact of intrawork rest breaks on doctors’ performance and well-being: systematic review

“…A survey of radiologists in Saudi Arabia found that infrequent break taking was predictive of digital eye strain,38 while in the UK,39 doctors reported lack of breaks as the most common barrier to healthy eating. Two studies (in Egypt and Germany)40 41 found that fewer breaks correlated with, or were predictors of, higher stress levels, whereas a survey of physicians in private practice42 found that break taking negatively correlated with work-home conflict and indirectly correlated with emotional exhaustion. However, a small survey of 46 Tunisian anaesthetists of varying grades43 found no association between break-taking behaviours and levels of burnout.…”

“…As study design and break types under investigation varied markedly, they are described here by topic and data type to aid clarity, including quantitative studies of standard 30 min breaks, 24 25 sleep-related interventions (naps), 26 27 yoga and mindfulness interventions, [28][29][30][31] microbreaks in surgery, [32][33][34][35] other microbreak interventions, 36 37 surveys [38][39][40][41][42][43][44] and cohort studies. [45][46][47][48] Qualitative data are grouped into qualitative evaluations of interventions 49 50 and other qualitative studies, [51][52][53][54] and a single German sequential mixed-method study investigating the impact of breaks on opportunities for physicians to share (or hide) ignorance 55 (see online supplemental table 4).…”