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Working hours, job stress, work satisfaction, and accident rates among medical practitioners and allied personnel

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International Journal of Stress Management

Abstract

Predictors of accident behavior among German medical staff revealed that work-related injuries/accidents experienced during a recent 12-month period were significantly related to working hours per week, distance from home to practice, number of dependent children, gender, and job-related stress. The average yearly number of car accidents was predicted by age and number of working hours. Furthermore, driving accidents going to or coming from work during the last year was determined by working climate, hours of work, length of lunchtime break, distance traveled to and from work, number of dependent children, and gender. Physicians working in excess of 48 hours per week displayed significantly more driving accidents but not work-related accidents, and they reported significantly higher levels of job-related stress than those colleagues working fewer than 48 hours per week. The implications of these results are discussed in the framework on risk management in the health services.

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Kirkcaldy, B.D., Trimpop, R. & Cooper, C.L. Working hours, job stress, work satisfaction, and accident rates among medical practitioners and allied personnel. Int J Stress Manage 4, 79–87 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02765302

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