The view from Denmark

doi:10.1136/bmj.39191.727164.3A

BMJ 2007;334:864 (28 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39191.727164.3A

Letters

Shift work

The view from Denmark

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

As a junior doctor I worked all the different work rotas imaginable,both full time and flexibly, over the past seven years—fromon-call rota to full shift—and in three countries (theUnited Kingdom, Malaysia, and now Denmark).¹ Now I work fulltime in Denmark but just 37 hours a week, maybe 40 on a badweek, and this includes on-call hours.

How does the Danish public health system function with suchreduced doctors' working hours? Perhaps it is because Denmarkhas more doctors (they are still looking for more), and doctorsare more efficient at time keeping during an average workingday. The department I work in performs over 200 cleft casesand150 free breast flaps in a year, plus all the skin cancercases and burns injuries. These figures are similar to thoseof London teaching hospitals.

The downside? The training takes longer, but who cares if youcan . . . [Full text of this article]

Shariha Khalid Erichsen, clinical fellow, plastic surgery

Rigshospitalet, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

shariha@doctors.org.uk