Nearly one-third of all Canadian physicians feel they are overworked, as the average work week has passed 54 hours, new numbers suggest.
Extra services like being on-call added up to an average of 110 hours every month
In fact, the average work week has increased by three hours since 2010, with patient care, teaching and administration taking up more time.
The numbers come from the 2013 National Physician Survey, which was released Wednesday morning. More than 10,500 physicians took part in the report, which is the first major update since 2010. Participants filled out an electronic survey.
Additionally, family physicians were more likely to feel overworked than their specialist colleagues (35% compared to 30%). For all physicians, extra services such as being on-call are now adding an average of 110 hours every month.
As for the generation gap, physicians younger than 35 worked an average of 53 hours each week, while physicians in the 45-54 age bracket put in 57 hours of weekly work.
In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, doctors worked the longest hours—61 and 58, respectively.
Doctors in Quebec and British Columbia were on the other end, logging less than 53 hours per week.
Employment challenges
Meanwhile, the survey reports that 1% of all physicians are unemployed and 5% are underemployed. The numbers of underemployed were slightly higher among specialists (8%) than family physicians (3%).
Meanwhile, 14% of underemployed physicians said it was due to their own choice. That number includes semi-retired physicians.
Remuneration
Fee-for-service is no longer the most common form of payment, with the largest portion of physicians receiving money in a mixed method. In fact, 41% of physicians received mixed payments in 2013, up from 32% in 2010.
Fee-for-service, meanwhile, fell from 51% in 2004 to 38% in 2013.
All of the findings can be seen here.
REPRINTED FROM ARTICLE WRITTEN BY JERED STUFFCO ON OCTOBER 23, 2013 FOR THE MEDICAL POST
