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Overworked doctors barely given break times to rest and recover
By Jun Ji-hye
Medical residents in Korea work 77.7 hours a week on average, with more than half of them working over 80 hours, despite the current law capping the maximum weekly working hours to 80 for those in medical residency programs.
Residents in the department of cardiothoracic surgery work the longest hours ― 102.1 hours a week.
The figures were the findings of recent research conducted by the Korean Intern and Resident Association (KIRA). The association interviewed 1,903 medical residents from a variety of departments.
Rep. Shin Hyun-young, a doctor-turned-lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, received the alarming findings from the association and released it to the media, claiming that the overwork culture of medical residents is at a seriously worrisome level.
The issue is drawing keen attention at a time when the government's move to reform the country's 52-hour workweek system has sparked huge controversy. Under the reform measures announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on March 6, companies will be allowed to increase the maximum weekly work hours to 69 during weeks with heavy workloads.
The government's plans have been criticized for forcing employees to work longer hours while only benefiting employers.
Rep. Shin noted that medical residents have been placed in much tougher situations as the weekly working hours of 15 departments out of 26, which participated in the research, exceeded 69 hours.
In the case of cardiothoracic surgery residents, working 102 hours a week means a resident had to work 20.4 hours a day in the five-day workweek ― even if it was a six-day workweek, the resident had to work 17 hours a day.
Residents in the department of surgery work the second longest hours ― 90.6 hours a week ― followed by 90 hours for the neurosurgery department and 89.1 hours for the ophthalmology department.
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The current law governing the status and working environment of medical residents stipulates that they should not work more than 80 hours a week on a four-week average. The law also bans them from working for more than 36 hours straight. Even in emergency situations, the hours cannot exceed 40.
However, 52 percent of the residents responded that their weekly working hours on a four-week average exceeded 80 hours at least once over the last year.
About 66 percent of the respondents said they worked more than 24 hours without a break at least once a week, and 16.2 percent said they worked like this more than three days a week.
Despite serious overwork, proper break times have not been guaranteed for medical residents.
The law guarantees at least 10 hours of break times if a resident works for more than 16 hours straight. But 33.9 percent of the residents said they were not given the break times as stipulated in the law.
The harsh working conditions faced by medical residents have led to increasing cases in which residents gave up halfway through. This has been cited as one of the major reasons for the shortage of medical professionals in the country's healthcare system.
Amid the deepening manpower shortage, some medical centers have appeared to hire old doctors in order to prevent a medical services vacuum.
In a bid to improve the working conditions of medical residents, Rep. Shin submitted a bill to the National Assembly on March 14 to revise the law.
The revision calls for reducing their maximum straight working hours from the current 36 (40 hours in emergency situations) to 24 (30 hours in emergency situations).
Previously, the cap on the maximum straight working hours was applied only for emergency rooms, but under the revision, the cap will be applied both for emergency rooms and intensive care units.
"As the country's healthcare system has relied too much on the sacrifice of medical residents, an increasing number of residents gave up their residency program before completing it, and this has resulted in a serious manpower shortage," Rep. Shin said. "Much attention and support are necessary to improve working conditions of medical residents to ensure the safety of patients."
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