Overwork among resident physicians: national questionnaire survey results

BACKGROUND: Residents experience the longest working hours among physicians. Thus, it would be beneficial to perform a nationwide survey in Japan on residents’ long work hours and the background factors promoting upper limits on working hours of Japanese residents. The aim of this study was to study or assess the state of physicians’ excessive work hours and its background factors using a questionnaire survey. METHODS: The survey was sent to 924 hospitals. The physicians’ general attributes, work hours and conditions, and employers’ foundational entities were explored. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to elucidate the background factors for long work hours. RESULTS: Of the 4306 resident physicians who responded, 67% had ≥ 60 in-hospital hours/week and 27% had ≥ 80 h/week; 51% were on-call ≥ four times/month. Many of them hoped for increased remuneration. Additionally, female (reference: male, OR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.55–0.76), 35–40 years old (reference: 25–30 years old, OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.32–2.54), childlessness (reference: child, OR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.12–1.75), surgical specialization (reference: internal medicine, OR: 2.51, 95% CI: 1.96–3.23), neurosurgical specialization (reference: internal medicine, OR: 4.38, 95% CI: 2.92–6.59) and hospitals with 200–400 physicians (reference: <100 physicians, OR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.12–2.96) exhibited significant correlations with ≥ 80 in-hospital hours/week. CONCLUSION: Understanding the factors that increase the likelihood of residents working very long hours could aid in making targeted changes to address the specific concerns. Moreover, reducing working hours to a reasonable limit can improve resident physicians’ health and the quality of care they provide in their community.