Working hours of full-time hospital physicians in Japan: a cross-sectional nationwide survey
Abstract Background The culture of excessively long overtime work in Japan has not been recently addressed. New legislation on working hours, including a limitation on maximum overtime work for physicians, will be enforced in 2024. This study was performed to elucidate the working conditions of full...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2024-01-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17531-5 |
| _version_ | 1797355443489603584 |
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| author | Soichi Koike Hiroo Wada Sachiko Ohde Hiroo Ide Kenichiro Taneda Takeshi Tanigawa |
| author_facet | Soichi Koike Hiroo Wada Sachiko Ohde Hiroo Ide Kenichiro Taneda Takeshi Tanigawa |
| author_sort | Soichi Koike |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The culture of excessively long overtime work in Japan has not been recently addressed. New legislation on working hours, including a limitation on maximum overtime work for physicians, will be enforced in 2024. This study was performed to elucidate the working conditions of full-time hospital physicians and discuss various policy implications. Methods A facility survey and a physician survey regarding physicians’ working conditions were conducted in July 2022. The facility survey was sent to all hospitals in Japan, and the physician survey was sent to all physicians working at half of the hospitals. The physicians were asked to report their working hours from 11 to 17 July 2022. In addition to descriptive statistics, a multivariate logistic regression analysis on the factors that lead to long working hours was conducted. Results In total, 11,466 full-time hospital physicians were included in the analysis. Full-time hospital physicians worked 50.1 h per week. They spent 45.6 h (90.9%) at the main hospital and 4.6 h (9.1%) performing side work. They spent 43.8 h (87.5%) on clinical work and 6.3 h (12.5%) on activities outside clinical work, such as research, teaching, and other activities. Neurosurgeons worked the longest hours, followed by surgeons and emergency medicine physicians. In total, 20.4% of physicians were estimated to exceed the annual overtime limit of 960 h, and 3.9% were estimated to exceed the limit of 1860 h. A total of 13.3% and 2.0% exceeded this level only at their primary hospital, after excluding hours performing side work. Logistic regression analysis showed that male, younger age, working at a university hospital, working in clinical areas of practice with long working hours, and undergoing specialty training were associated with long working hours after controlling for other factors. Conclusions With the approaching application of overtime regulations to physicians, a certain reduction in working hours has been observed. However, many physicians still work longer hours than the designated upper limit of overtime. Work reform must be further promoted by streamlining work and task-shifting while securing the functions of university hospitals such as research, education, and supporting healthcare in communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:11:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-85496e389dc64342acc8737767e9f288 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:11:19Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-85496e389dc64342acc8737767e9f2882024-01-14T12:41:16ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582024-01-0124111010.1186/s12889-023-17531-5Working hours of full-time hospital physicians in Japan: a cross-sectional nationwide surveySoichi Koike0Hiroo Wada1Sachiko Ohde2Hiroo Ide3Kenichiro Taneda4Takeshi Tanigawa5Division of Health Policy and Management, Center for Community Medicine, Jichi Medical UniversityDepartment of Public Health, Juntendo University School of MedicineGraduate School of Public Health, St. Luke’s International UniversityInstitute for Future Initiatives, The University of TokyoDepartment of Health and Welfare Services, National Institute of Public HealthDepartment of Public Health, Juntendo University School of MedicineAbstract Background The culture of excessively long overtime work in Japan has not been recently addressed. New legislation on working hours, including a limitation on maximum overtime work for physicians, will be enforced in 2024. This study was performed to elucidate the working conditions of full-time hospital physicians and discuss various policy implications. Methods A facility survey and a physician survey regarding physicians’ working conditions were conducted in July 2022. The facility survey was sent to all hospitals in Japan, and the physician survey was sent to all physicians working at half of the hospitals. The physicians were asked to report their working hours from 11 to 17 July 2022. In addition to descriptive statistics, a multivariate logistic regression analysis on the factors that lead to long working hours was conducted. Results In total, 11,466 full-time hospital physicians were included in the analysis. Full-time hospital physicians worked 50.1 h per week. They spent 45.6 h (90.9%) at the main hospital and 4.6 h (9.1%) performing side work. They spent 43.8 h (87.5%) on clinical work and 6.3 h (12.5%) on activities outside clinical work, such as research, teaching, and other activities. Neurosurgeons worked the longest hours, followed by surgeons and emergency medicine physicians. In total, 20.4% of physicians were estimated to exceed the annual overtime limit of 960 h, and 3.9% were estimated to exceed the limit of 1860 h. A total of 13.3% and 2.0% exceeded this level only at their primary hospital, after excluding hours performing side work. Logistic regression analysis showed that male, younger age, working at a university hospital, working in clinical areas of practice with long working hours, and undergoing specialty training were associated with long working hours after controlling for other factors. Conclusions With the approaching application of overtime regulations to physicians, a certain reduction in working hours has been observed. However, many physicians still work longer hours than the designated upper limit of overtime. Work reform must be further promoted by streamlining work and task-shifting while securing the functions of university hospitals such as research, education, and supporting healthcare in communities.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17531-5Working hoursPhysician work reformCommunity healthcareUniversity hospitals |
| spellingShingle | Soichi Koike Hiroo Wada Sachiko Ohde Hiroo Ide Kenichiro Taneda Takeshi Tanigawa Working hours of full-time hospital physicians in Japan: a cross-sectional nationwide survey BMC Public Health Working hours Physician work reform Community healthcare University hospitals |
| title | Working hours of full-time hospital physicians in Japan: a cross-sectional nationwide survey |
| title_full | Working hours of full-time hospital physicians in Japan: a cross-sectional nationwide survey |
| title_fullStr | Working hours of full-time hospital physicians in Japan: a cross-sectional nationwide survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | Working hours of full-time hospital physicians in Japan: a cross-sectional nationwide survey |
| title_short | Working hours of full-time hospital physicians in Japan: a cross-sectional nationwide survey |
| title_sort | working hours of full time hospital physicians in japan a cross sectional nationwide survey |
| topic | Working hours Physician work reform Community healthcare University hospitals |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17531-5 |
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