Overwork due to extended working hours, a recent survey by a health ministry research team has revealed. The survey, conducted in July 2022, gathered responses from 19,879 doctors across 5,424 hospitals nationwide. Among the full-time doctors (11,466 in total) whose weekly working conditions were examined, the study found concerning trends.
Around 20.4% of full-time doctors reported working over 60 hours per week, surpassing the legal limit of 40 hours and resulting in an estimated annual overtime of over 960 hours. Medical professionals specializing in neurosurgery faced the highest likelihood of exceeding this threshold, with 36.6% doing so. Other departments with a notable proportion of doctors working beyond this limit included emergency (32.3%), surgical (29.7%), and obstetrics/gynecology (28%).
The research also highlighted that the widespread adoption of long working hours was being addressed due to work-style reforms. The percentage of doctors with extended working hours had decreased compared to the previous 2019 survey.
Those working 60 or more hours (but less than 70 hours) per week reduced from 18.9% to 12.1%, and those working 70 or more hours (but less than 80 hours) per week decreased from 10.4% to 5.4%. In contrast, the percentage of doctors working less than 40 hours per week increased from 13.7% to 22.5%, and those working 40 or more hours (but less than 50 hours) per week increased from 22.3% to 32.7%.
To alleviate the burden on doctors, over 50% of hospitals surveyed had implemented systems where doctors only communicate patients’ medical conditions during consultation hours to the patients and their families. Furthermore, about 30% of doctors noted an improvement in the ease of taking paid leave compared to the previous year.
The five-year grace period for the cap on overtime hours, introduced under the work-style reform law of 2019, is scheduled to conclude in fiscal year 2024, starting in April. Soichi Koike, the head of the health ministry research team and a professor at Jichi Medical University, emphasized that while progress had been made, more work was required to promote work-style reforms across hospitals, as disparities between clinical departments were evident. Balancing work-style changes with the preservation of quality medical care is an intricate challenge, he noted.
