Dr Amran Dhillon is an Anaesthesia Registrar and a long time advocate for a change to the ‘work till you drop’ culture in many hospitals.

“Doctors are supposed to be amongst the smartest people but we do a lot of dumb things too,” he says. “The 14-hour shifts that doctors work can be soul-destroying and really impact on their wellbeing. One of the problems is doctors are used to working hard from a very early age but the workload can be relentless.”

Ironically, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in some much needed changes to health systems, staffing levels and the culture of working long hours.

“It has taken a worldwide pandemic to improve staffing levels in hospitals,” Dr Amran says.

“Thanks to support from federal and state governments, hospitals have been able to bring in more staff. Hopefully, this will be a permanent change and lead to better patient-staff ratios.”

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