Swiss doctors’ workload eases but still cause for concern

Doctors are still working far too much Keystone-SDA

The working hours of doctors in Swiss hospitals have fallen slightly. Nevertheless, exhaustion and risks to patient safety remain at a high level, according to a survey of working conditions.

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The average weekly working time, extrapolated to a full-time workload, fell to 54.6 hours. In 2022, it was 56.3 hours, as the Association of Swiss Assistant and Senior Physicians (VSAO) announced on Monday. The Demoscope survey institute interviewed 2,400 doctors for the survey.

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There was also a decrease in labour law violations, which still affected 58% of respondents, compared to 68% in the previous survey.

Despite this positive trend in working hours, the level of fatigue remains critical. As in the last survey in 2022, every second person surveyed (52%) stated that they thought “I can’t do any more” at least once in a while.

The overload also continues to jeopardise patient safety. Around 60% of doctors surveyed had experienced patients being put at risk at least once in the past two years due to work-related fatigue.

Translated from German by AI/mga

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