Shortening internships from 26 hours to 18 hours is closer than ever

Shortening internships from 26 hours to 18 hours is closer than ever. In recent days, the Ministry of Health has distributed to the government ministries two models for shortening the shifts for all interns in a graded manner of five or six years - after a long staff work done in the ministry in inter-ministerial cooperation.
According to the first model, the shortening of shifts will begin in two months' time in ten hospitals in the periphery, in all non-surgical professions. In order not to leave the interns in the surgical departments behind, resources will be allocated to alleviate their workload in ten peripheral hospitals: Haemek in Afula, Soroka in Be'er Sheva, the Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya, Ziv in Safed, Peda-Poria in Tiberias, Barzilai in Ashkelon, Yoseftal in Eilat, and hospitals The Scottish, the French and the holy family in Nazareth.
Over the next five years, all interns will join the outline - nationwide and in all professions - including the surgical professions. By the end of 2027, all interns in Israel will work 16-hour shifts, plus two hours of shift transfer.
The decision to start with hospitals in the periphery was made in order to give an advantage to the hospitals - which already today have difficulty staffing available internship standards in some of the professions. "There is a fear that a different allocation of devices will lead to difficulties in staffing these hospitals," reads a document distributed by the Ministry of Health.
The ministry estimates the cost of the layout at NIS 426 million per year - NIS 244 million for the annual addition of standards; NIS 110 million to increase the number of medical students; And NIS 72 million for the training and standards of physician assistants.
According to the second and more extensive outline distributed by the Ministry of Health, in addition to shortening the shifts for interns in the periphery, shifts in all internal departments and emergency rooms (emergency rooms) throughout the country will also be shortened by 2022. This model, as early as 2022, more than a third of interns will do 16-hour shifts, plus two hours of shift transfer.
The outline of the Ministry of Health is expected to provoke opposition from powerful elements in the system, possibly also from the Medical Association, which published its own model for shortening shifts a few weeks ago. This outline is completely different from the model of the Ministry of Health and included four models that are adapted to the different specializations.
The surgical associations also do not hide their opposition to the intention to shorten the shifts, claiming that this would harm the training of the interns and "force them" to extend the internship for a year. On the other hand, more than 2,000 interns, interns and students, have signed an undertaking to submit letters of resignation if the shifts are not shortened to 16 hours, plus two hours of shift transfer.