No amount of teaching in classrooms can compensate for practical experience. No reorganisation of hospital medicine, grades, or subdoctor “assistants” will help. Only a repeal of the directive will do that.
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Copyright © 2004, BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. No time to train the surgeons Only repeal of European Working Time Directive will help | ||||
Editor—The really depressing aspect of the pithy and well argued editorial by Chikwe et al is that the outcome has been obvious for years.1 The European Working Time Directive is a disaster for medicine. No amount of teaching in classrooms can compensate for practical experience. No reorganisation of hospital medicine, grades, or subdoctor “assistants” will help. Only a repeal of the directive will do that. | ||||
Notes Competing interests: None declared. | ||||
References 1. Chikwe J, de Souza AC, Pepper JR. No time to train the surgeons. BMJ
2004;328: 418-9. (21 February.) [PubMed]. | ||||