Generational conflict in the hospital – “A 42-hour week – you’ve missed the job” – News

Many young doctors criticize the high workload. This leads to conflicts with the older generation.

Othmar Schöb is professor of visceral and thoracic surgery at the Hirslanden Clinic – a top doctor. The 61-year-old works 80 hours a week and is one of the first to arrive at the hospital at 6 a.m. He is critical of the younger generation’s demand for a 42-hour week. “That is definitely not enough for our profession,” he says in the “Rundschau”.

Schöb is convinced that a top athlete who wants to make it big also trains more than an amateur athlete. There is currently a 50-hour week for junior doctors. Schöb thinks that’s not enough. He often has to send the young doctors home, even though they would like to work and operate more.

“Experience doesn’t come with biking”

He receives support from an old college friend. Martin Meuli (68) was the surgical director of the Zurich Children’s Hospital. He says patients deserve the best possible treatment. But in order to be truly comfortable, a surgeon needs a lot of experience in the operating room: “This experience doesn’t come from walking or biking,” says Meuli.

But the younger generation sees it differently: Laura Biondi (26) started working as an assistant doctor in surgery at Thurgau Hospital two months ago. Your generation wants and has to combine family and work: “It is a reality of today’s generation that we increasingly want part-time work and work-life balance is an issue. You have to find solutions, otherwise we will eventually be left without young people.”

A third of students are considering changing careers

Biondi is not alone in this assessment. According to a survey, a third of medical students are already considering changing careers after their first practical experience. The reason: overtime, stress, rest times that are not adhered to, and the large amount of administrative tasks.

The high workload in the hospital became too much for her: two years ago, Rebekka Vermeer (32) started as an assistant doctor in the canton of Ticino. Her days were long and the responsibility was enormous: in extreme cases she was responsible for 12 seriously ill patients. She quit after just five weeks. She was intimidated by her superior’s reaction at the time: “They said that if I imagined a 42-hour week, I had missed my job, then I was in the wrong place.”

According to NZZ survey Almost 40 percent of junior doctors work more than 11 hours a day – one hour longer than legally required. In the same survey, 80 percent say they have made mistakes because they were overworked or tired.

Top surgeon Othmar Schöb finally calls it a day after a 14-hour day. He once again had to convince his family that he would come home later. In return, he can bring good news to the family of the last patient. His ninth operation this working day also went well.