Union says burnout among junior doctors is ‘indicative and alarming sign’ of abuse

The National Federation of Doctors (Fnam) warned on Tuesday that the level of burnout among intern doctors was a “telling and worrying sign, a reflection of labor abuses” they are subjected to in several institutions.

A study conducted by the National Council of Physician Interns Medical Association found that one in four interns surveyed had severe symptoms of burnout, and 55.3% were at risk of developing the syndrome.

Fnam said in a statement that the prisoners had been “generally ignored by successive governments over the past two decades, and the last one in particular.”

From the federation’s perspective, these doctors continue to see “internships recognized as an integral part of a medical career,” with “salaries unable to support the cost of living,” and are witnessing a “gradual devaluation of their medical training and specialization.” “.

“When the lack of response capacity, especially at the level of the emergency service (EDS), began to manifest itself openly, the first victims were general practitioners, and an even greater responsibility fell on their shoulders in terms of sacrificing the quality of medical care. .training as a result of work overload,” he emphasizes.

According to the federation, young doctors were “forced to move around” between different medical facilities to ensure emergency services were maintained and the public had access to care.

“In addition, they were pressured to provide external emergency control shifts in excess of the annual statutory overtime limit, as well as perform internal emergency work in areas outside the scope of their training program, contrary to their knowledge, qualifications and skills. In addition, there is a non-payment of the due bonus for overtime work,” he emphasizes.

Fnam also warns that “illegally and persistently” the composition of ambulance teams was below the minimum established by the Order of Doctors, “and often” without specialists at night.

“Prisoners who are unaccompanied while performing their duties cannot be held responsible for filling the shortage of specialists,” he warns.

In this situation, he emphasizes, several boards of directors do not respect professional rules and “the quality, readiness and rigor of medical action, which once again jeopardizes the safety of patients and the exercise of fundamental rights.” to protect the health that the Constitution protects.”

“Collectively, many prisoners saw illegal changes in working hours, the provision of a six-day week without the right to two days of rest per week, mandatory and additional,” warns Fnam.

It also warns that some establishments do not provide the right to rest from working time for the next eight days after work performed on Sundays and public holidays.

It also highlights that many boards make it difficult to approve internships for physician interns if they are conducted outside the department in which they are completing their medical internship.

FNAM invites the future government to start “urgent negotiations in the first hour of its mandate” in order to “not waste the time” that Health Minister Manuel Pizarro lost in 19 months of negotiations, “without the competence to save a medical career, as well as to implement the solutions that Fnam proposes for medical trainees whose specialists will become the future of SNS.”