WORKING HOURS, JOB STRESS, WORK SATISFACTION, AND ACCIDENT RATES AMONG MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS AND ALLIED PERSONNEL

Predictors of accident behavior among German medical staff revealed th at work-related injuries/accidents experienced during a recent 12-mont h period were significantly related to working hours per week, distanc e from home to practice, number of dependent children gender and job-r elated stress. The average yearly number of car accidents was predicte d by age and number of working hours. Furthermore, driving accidents g oing to or coming from work during the last year was determined by wor king climate, hours of work, length of lunchtime break, distance trave led to and from work, number of dependent children, and gender Physici ans working in excess of 48 hours per week displayed significantly mor e driving accidents but not work-related accidents, and they reported significantly higher levels of job-related stress than those colleague s working fewer than 48 hours per week. The implications of these resu lts are discussed in the framework on risk management in the health se rvices.