A Survey of Attitude Toward “Work Style Reform and its Measures” Among Surgeons in Oita Prefecture

Abstract

Recently, “the work style reform” has also been introduced into the medical field. However, the momentum for realization is not sufficiently reflected in the regional areas. Therefore, a questionnaire survey was carried out in order to clarify the awareness toward “work style reform and its measures” of the surgeons in Oita Prefecture. The questionnaire consists of 31 questions related to ① current work status, ② task shifting and task sharing, and ③ involvement in emergency care and palliative medicine. The number of valid respondents was 174 (response rate : 66%).

As a result, 28% of surgeons had overtime of 80 hours or more per month. Findings indicate that surgeons who work longer hours (p<0.05) or those who take charge of the night emergency care (p<0.05) more strongly desire task shifting to reduce their works, such as clerical work, for which 21% of the respondents answered to have a hard time. In order to realize “the work style reform for surgeons”, they require not only the shortening of the working hour but also the measures of the environment preparation where they can pursue their own original work.