Perceptions of a night float system for intern doctors in an internal medicine program: an Asian perspective
- Author:
Benjamin Yong Qiang TAN
1
;
Nicholas Jinghao NGIAM
;
Zi Yun CHANG
;
Sandra Ming Yien TAN
;
Xiayan SHEN
;
Shao Feng MOK
;
Srinivas SUBRAMANIAN
;
Shirley Beng Suat OOI
;
Adrian Chin Leong KEE
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: After-hours care; Patient safety; Medical education
- MeSH: After-Hours Care; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Education, Medical; Humans; Internal Medicine; Medical Errors; Patient Safety; Patient Satisfaction
- From:Korean Journal of Medical Education 2019;31(3):271-276
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: Long duty hours have been associated with significant medical errors, adverse events, and physician “burn-out”. An innovative night float (NF) system has been implemented in our internal medicine program to reduce the negative effects of long duty hours associated with conventional full-call systems. However, concerns remain if this would result in inadequate training for interns. We developed a structured questionnaire to assess junior doctors’ perceptions of the NF system compared to full calls, in areas of patient safety, medical training, and well-being. Ninety-seven (71%) of the 137 doctors polled responded. Ninety-one (94%) felt the NF system was superior to the full call system. A strong majority felt NF was beneficial for patient safety compared to full call (94% vs. 2%, p<0.001). The NF system was also perceived to reduce medical errors (94% vs. 2%, p<0.001) and reduce physician “burn-out” (95% vs. 5%, p<0.001). Beyond being a practical solution to duty-hour limitations, there was a significant perceived benefit of the NF system compared to the full call in terms of overall satisfaction, patient safety, reducing medical errors and physician “burn-out”.
