Sleep-deprived doctors told to drink coffee

Reuters

DRINK UP: Queensland doctors are being told to drink coffee to stay awake on the job.

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Exhausted Australian doctors have been told to drink up to six cups of coffee a day to stay awake during extended shifts, building pressure on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to seize control of state-run hospitals.

A document on fatigue management released by health officials in Queensland state recommended doctors ingest 400 milligrams of caffeine to stay awake on the job, or the equivalent of six cups of coffee, after warnings that patients were dying.

"For management to just say go and have a cup of coffee and get over tiredness, it cheapens the whole issue," Australian Medical Association Vice President Steven Hambleton told Reuters.

"We are talking about serious issues here, and this is not just a serious suggestion at all. It can't be a weakness to say you're dog tired," he said.

The recommendation followed warnings from a union representing Queensland doctors this week that public hospital patients were dying because dangerously tired medics were being forced to work up to 80 hours without a break.

Australia's national centre-left government is under pressure to seize control of the nation's ailing public hospital system, currently managed by state governments with federal funding support, in a $20.5 billion (12.4 billion pound) takeover.

With fresh elections a year away, repairing the health system was a key promise that helped underpin the 2007 victory by Labour over rival conservatives, with Rudd campaigning tirelessly on health and promising to fix public hospitals.

Rudd last month delayed a decision by six months, but said the option of a "full monty" takeover was still on the cards.

In advocating the use of caffeine by doctors, the health department document said that compared with other psychoactive drugs, such as the prescription-only stimulant modafinil, caffeine was more readily available and less expensive.

Salaried Doctors Queensland, representing medicos, countered that pumping doctors full of caffeine was not an effective way to deal with fatigue and doctor shortages, often filled in Australia through recruitment overseas.

Queensland Labour Health Minister Paul Lucas said the state was aiming to train more doctors and cap hospital work shifts at 12 hours over the next two years, but had no immediate solution to fatigue and staff shortages.

"If the doctors are not there, we can't do it," he said. "We can't say we'd rather not have it as it is and create doctors out of the air."

- Reuters

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Jax   #4   03:19 pm Sep 10 2009

Natural Selection

Dave   #3   03:12 am Sep 10 2009

Catch 22, of course: If doctors are forced to work 80 hours straight, what doctor in his right mind would want to work there?

Mike   #2   12:01 am Sep 10 2009

These long hours are not an isolated case in Aussie. Kiwi Drs are doing similar things. I'm sorry to the powers that be, but for crying out loud. We expect our Dr's to perform at their peak on their diddly squat pay to work upward of 80 hours non stop. No wonder most of them leave the country. Maybe this is a serious OSH issue surrounding fatigue management!

Marcus   #1   05:29 pm Sep 09 2009

They should have a smoke everytime they feel stressed too.

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