The AMA is conducting the first ever national on line survey of the working hours of employed hospital doctors.
If you complete the on-line survey you will receive an instant risk assessment report indicating the fatigue risks associated with your working hours.
The web address for the survey is:
www.safehours.ama.com.au
This survey is open to all employed junior and salaried hospital doctors and has been developed in cooperation with the AMA Council of Doctors in Training, the AMA Coordinating Committee of Salaried Doctors and state/territory AMAs.
Prior to completing the survey you will need to be prepared with details of:
- your actual working, non-working and sleeping hours for the week 8-14 May 2006
- your hours worked for the week 1-7 May 2006
- your rostered hours for the week 15-21 May 2006
The survey should take around 10 minutes to complete. You have until 14 June 2006 to complete the survey.
Completing the survey is simple. You need to provide some basic information about your clinical discipline, award/agreement classification, and the location of your primary hospital. The main survey form allows you to click and drag details of your working, non-working and sleep hours.
Any data provided will be de-identified and no personal information will be published in the final report.
State and territory AMA offices will be readily available to give members advice on the risks of their rosters as well as take up individual complaints on behalf of members.
The survey results will be published in a nation wide report on the working hours of hospital doctors and will be an invaluable tool for the AMA in our continued lobbying and industrial efforts to ensure doctors are not working unsafe hours. Fatigue not only endangers doctors health, it can an also endanger patient safety.