1 February 2023

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) says today’s release of the Medical Board of Australia’s annual Medical Trainee Survey vindicates its concerns about the levels of burnout and the declining wellbeing of its trainees.

RACP President Dr Jacqueline Small says “The results released today show that workloads for trainees continue to intensify and that burnout is getting worse, not better.

Of the 3,700 RACP trainees surveyed in the 2022 Medical Training Survey:

• 60% of RACP trainees considered their workload heavy or very heavy, an increase of 8 percentage points since 2021.
• More than 1 in 3 Trainees reported that the amount of work they are expected to do adversely impacts their wellbeing always or most of the time, and 65% of trainees believe that COVID has had a negative impact on their workload, an increase from 43% in 2021.
• Only 1 in 2 Trainees reported that they can access protected study time/leave.

“High workloads that are often unmanageable for physicians and trainees is not a new concept, and these numbers reflect the reality that the current system has failed to support our members and their wellbeing. Our physician educators are working in incredibly tough circumstances to educate a future health workforce with minimal resources- this is not sustainable.

“It is time for us to reject the status quo of an unhealthy culture. We can no longer deem this acceptable because of the detrimental effects on our members’ overall health and wellbeing.

“This level of stress doesn’t only affect trainees and physicians. At the end of the day, members’ workload also impacts the quality of care and health outcomes of the patients they attend to.

“The results also demonstrate that problematic culture continues to dominate in medical training, with approximately one in five (23%) trainees reporting experiencing bullying, harassment, discrimination, and/or racism. This absolutely has to change.” Dr Small said.

Less than half of the respondents (43%) agreed that the RACP supports flexible training arrangements, and 44% said they had access to flexible working arrangements.

“The College has already listened to members and taken action to update its flexible training policy, and these new measures should see an improvement in our trainee experience in 2023 and beyond.

“The results reflect similar surveys we have conducted with members and confirm that systemic reform is required both within our education programs, hospital systems and the wider healthcare system.

“That includes measures we can take as a College to better support Trainees, and improving trainee wellbeing will continue to be a critical priority at the College.

“There is a College-wide Member Health and Wellbeing Strategy being rolled out this year which will take a more pragmatic approach to how our college can support members.   

“This year we are focused on developing our action plan for Safe Training Environments. This builds upon our existing work accrediting and monitoring health services as providers of physician training and will provide guidance about safe and meaningful mechanisms for raising concerns regarding culture, bullying, harassment and discrimination.

“But it’s clear wider reform is needed and we need a whole of sector response to improve trainee doctor wellbeing.

“To address this, the college is calling for continuing commitment from governments to work in partnership with the Colleges, stakeholder representative groups and health services in finding ways to address workload pressures and improve the culture of medicine.

“This is a pinnacle moment. If we unite to prioritise policy reform that makes significant improvements to address under-resourcing and burnout in the healthcare system, we will see Trainee wellbeing – and in turn patient outcomes – improve significantly.” Dr Small said.