ACEM’s Sustainable Workforce Survey (SWS), held every three years since 2016, asked emergency medicine specialists about their levels of job satisfaction and work-life balance, workplace conditions, future career intentions, and health and wellbeing.
The key findings are available in the latest report and on an interactive dashboard showing trends across all survey editions with filters for tailored insights.
ED overcrowding and access block have ranked as the top two stressors across all four surveys.
Ongoing challenges include consistently elevated levels of personal and work-related burnout. The proportion of respondents reporting incidents of verbal abuse, physical aggression and sexual harassment by a patient or carer also remains high. A significant proportion of respondents intend to reduce clinical practice hours, leave clinical practice, and/or leave the emergency medicine workforce in the next 10 years.
Improving survey trends included fewer respondents reporting feeling professional isolation and a decline in reported discrimination, bullying, harassment and sexual harassment (DBSH) from workplace colleagues.
ACEM President Dr Peter Allely said the latest Sustainable Workforce Survey revealed that many ACEM members and trainees across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand continue to experience high levels of stress and burnout, exacerbated by factors such as ED overcrowding, bed block, workforce shortages and other workplace challenges.
“It has been more than a decade since emergency doctors first highlighted the impact of ED overcrowding and bed block as issues amplifying the unsustainable stresses affecting our EDs and the people who work in them.
“Emergency physicians are doing their best to deliver high quality and safe emergency care to those who need it. However, there is only so much they can do with the resources at hand.”
“What this survey is showing us is that addressing these ongoing issues seriously through targeted health system reforms is critical to improving the sustainability of the emergency medicine workforce.
“ACEM welcomes opportunities to work with state, territory and national governments, as well as sector leaders and stakeholders, to achieve a fairer, safer and better-functioning healthcare system for all.”
To access the Sustainable Workforce Survey report, findings and interactive dashboard, click here.
Background:
ACEM is the peak body for emergency medicine in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, responsible for training emergency physicians and advancement of professional standards. www.acem.org.au
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