Exhausting Physicians Employed in Hospitals in Japan Assessed by a Health Questionnaire

Japanese physicians employed and working in general hospitals have become busier since 2005, as they had to teach and guide the increased number of medical residents graduated from medical schools. Working hours and chronic fatigue of employed physicians were surveyed compared with independent physicians working in their own out-patient clinics and with usual employed men in Japan, and their mental health was assessed.

(1) 75 employed physicians in hospitals were surveyed of their working hours a week and compared with (2) 48 independent general practitioners (GP) who work in their own out-patient clinics. (3) 47 employed physicians aged 40s and 50s out of (1) were compared with group (4) or 277 men of the same age employed in an automobile company. A symptom check list questionnaire, the Total Health Index (THI), was used to assess their stress and mental health status. The THI has 130 questions including physical symptoms, mental complaints, lifestyle and habits. 130 items have been grouped into 12 scales: vague complaints, respiratory symptoms, depression, and 9 other scales.

The average weekly working hours of employed physicians of (1) and GPs of (2) were 55.7 h and 51.3 h, respectively, and those who worked 60 h or more a week were 44.0% and 27.0%, respectively. They had significantly higher average scale scores than GPs with respect to vague complaints, irregular daily life, mental instability, depression, neurotics and psychosomatics scales. They also had significantly higher yes response rates for question items, "envy for richer friends", "feel my life is going badly", and other items than the GPs. 47 employed physicians of group (3) and 277 men workers of group (4) worked for 57.0 h and 46.0 h a week, respectively, in average, and 51.1% and 6.2% of group (3) and (4), respectively, worked for 60 h or more a week. The average scale scores of physicians of (3) were highly significantly poorer than group (4) in many scales of THI. Physicians employed also had significantly higher yes response rates for question items "feel too heavy work load", "stressed state", "irritated", "depressed", "lack of sleep", and "low back pain". Most of the physicians of group (3) were exhausted due to the hard work, showing a sharp contrast to group (4).

Physicians employed in hospitals work for 57.0 h a week on average, although usual labors of the same age in a large farm work for 46.0 h a week. Physicians employed were exhausted or burnout and under poorer mental condition.