#0043 Association between extremely long working hours and musculoskeletal symptoms: A nationwide survey of medical residents in South Korea
Association Between Working Hours and Musculoskeletal Pain in Korean Medical Residents
South Koreans, especially medical residents, generally work longer hours than any other nationality among the countries that are part of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Korean medical residents typically work for more than 90 hours a week, which can lead to musculoskeletal pain and affect their job performance, and eventually, patient care. To this end, we conducted a study at Korea University to determine if there is a relationship between work hours and musculoskeletal pain.
For our study, we conducted a cross-sectional survey on 1077 medical residents. The participants responded to questions on the number of hours at work, physical workload, and musculoskeletal pain over the previous three months. Then, we classified them into three groups: no pain, pain that did not interfere with work, and pain that interfered with work.
Our findings showed that, on average, medical residents worked for almost 85 hours a week, with most of them working in hospitals with more than 500 beds. More than half of the medical residents reported working in sedentary positions with minimal heavy lifting or movements.
Moreover, our analysis revealed that residents who worked for more than 100 hours a week commonly reported more instances of upper limb and lower back pain that interfered with their work than those who worked for less than 60 hours a week. However, we did not find any relation between the amount of time spent at work and lower limb pain.
To conclude, medical residents working longer hours with minimal time for rest or pursuing physical fitness are at a risk of experiencing debilitating musculoskeletal pain and burning out. Thus, reducing their work hours during the week should be considered, potentially leading to positive outcomes on their health.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/1348-9585.12125
Title of the paper:
Association between extremely long working hours and musculoskeletal symptoms: A nationwide survey of medical residents in South Korea
Authors:
Hyoju Sung, Ja Young Kim, Ji-Hwan Kim, Laura Punnett, Hyemin Lee, Seung-Sup Kim
DOI:
