Dangerously overworked

Doctors and nurses might be risking their own health and that of their patients by being dangerously overworked, in some cases labouring as many as 17 hours daily, according to a new study.
Fiona McDonald, associate lecturer at the law faculty of Queensland University of Technology, has completed an extensive study, looking at the different laws in place to regulate working hours across six countries.
McDonald said there had been a number of cases in recent years where patient deaths, or serious injuries, were put down to bad judgement calls caused by doctor fatigue, according to a Sciencealert report.
'After a point being so tired has a similar effect to being drunk, so overworked health professionals are at a higher risk of making poor judgements, their reaction time slows and they face increased difficulties completing routine tasks,' she said.
'The working hours of doctors and nurses are a major issue which puts the health of patients and workers at risk. Australian Medical Association believes some work up to 120 hours per week; most are working less than that but it would still be around 80 hours a week,' McDonald said.
'While mistakes may occur because of fatigue, they may also occur when there are multiple shift changes - mistakes often occur as a result of poor communication during handover.'
She said Queensland is in the process of implementing medical fatigue risk management plans, where every district will develop a plan to assess and manage the high risks of working long hours.

Doctors and nurses might be risking their own health and that of their patients by being dangerously overworked, in some cases labouring as many as 17 hours daily, according to a new study. Fiona McDonald, associate lecturer at the law faculty of Queensland University of Technology, has completed an extensive study, looking at the different laws in place to regulate working hours across six countries. McDonald said there had been a number of cases in recent years where patient deaths, or serious injuries, were put down to bad judgement calls caused by doctor fatigue, according to a Sciencealert report. 'After a point being so tired has a similar effect to being drunk, so overworked health professionals are at a higher risk of making poor judgements, their reaction time slows and they face increased difficulties completing routine tasks,' she said. 'The working hours of doctors and nurses are a major issue which puts the health of patients and workers at risk. Australian Medical Association believes some work up to 120 hours per week; most are working less than that but it would still be around 80 hours a week,' McDonald said. 'While mistakes may occur because of fatigue, they may also occur when there are multiple shift changes - mistakes often occur as a result of poor communication during handover.' She said Queensland is in the process of implementing medical fatigue risk management plans, where every district will develop a plan to assess and manage the high risks of working long hours.

oil prices

World oil prices continued their record-breaking run Thursday, reaching a fresh intra-day peak near 124 dollars a barrel despite a larger-than-expected rise in US crude stocks.
The record of 123.87 dollars reached by New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, slightly exceeded the old intra-day high of 123.80 dollars reached Wednesday in US trading.
The contract later was a penny higher at 123.54 dollars in Asian afternoon trade from its record close of 123.53 dollars in New York.
Brent North Sea crude for June delivery was 11 cents higher at 122.43 dollars a barrel.
In London on Wednesday the contract touched an all-time peak of 122.70 dollars, before settling up 2.01 dollars at 122.32 dollars.
Oil prices have crashed through records every day this week, jumping at least seven dollars.
"Right now the market is trading by momentum as market participants tend to selectively focus on bullish news," said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz energy consultancy in Singapore.
"Heady prices point to a significant risk of a correction," he said.
Some economists fear that surging oil prices could crimp US economic growth, and Wall Street tumbled on Wednesday after the latest spike in oil prices.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average of blue chips closed down 1.59 percent while the technology-laden Nasdaq composite finished down 1.80 percent, in turn dragging down Asian bourses on Thursday, dealers said.
America is the world's biggest oil importer but has been threatened by a long-running housing market slump and a related credit squeeze.
Oil prices continued their gains despite a weekly survey by the US government showing that the country's crude stocks rose by 5.7 million barrels to 325.6 million barrels for the week ended May 2.
But Shum said that while the inventory report showed an unexpectedly large crude gain, many market participants zeroed in on draws in distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, and which provided the momentum for a strong close.
Traders said a combination of forces have pushed prices higher, including market speculators and a decision by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel not to hike output quotas.
Prices have also been buoyed by ongoing violence in Nigeria, Africa's largest producer, traders said. Attacks have cut Nigeria's oil production by about a quarter over the past two years.
Angst over oil prices has also been stirred by continuing diplomatic tension over Iran's nuclear ambitions, which Tehran says are peaceful. Iran is OPEC's second-largest producer.

image environment

Intel, the world's top chipmaker, and Nokia, the No. 1 mobile-phone maker, plan to lesson their respective impact on the environment, the companies said separately Monday.
While Nokia has joined the World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers Program, Intel plans to buy 1.3 billion kilowatt hours a year of renewable energy certificates. That will make Intel the largest corporate buyer of green energy in the United States.
Buying renewable energy certificates is not, however, the same as directly buying and using renewable energy. Intel is making the purchase through Sterling Planet, a company that will then distribute the investment to a variety of green energy producers across the United States. The producers use wind, solar, hydroelectric, and biomass sources to produce energy that they then feed into the power grid. Those producers rely on the buyers of certificates to help fund their businesses, so Intel's investment is important to their success, said Matt Clouse, director of the Green Power Partnership at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Buying renewable energy certificates helps a company such as Intel support green energy even if it finds it difficult to directly buy green energy for use in its operations. Many green energy producers feed their power into the grid, but once they do, power users usually can't discern whether the energy they buy came from the green source or from a coal-powered plant, said Bill Calder, an Intel spokesman.
Some electric companies do have green power offerings, but a company such as Intel with multiple sites would have to work with various providers in multiple locations to try to buy green power from them, which is an expensive undertaking, especially in states where prices are set by a regulatory process, Clouse said. Buying the certificates can help companies track their environmental effect and hit environmental goals even if they find it cost prohibitive to directly buy and use green energy, he said.
Intel may have other reasons for making the investment beyond reducing its carbon footprint. "Many of these companies that are buying green power are customer facing, and they spend enormous amounts of money on their brand and product PR, and this is a way that is frankly a low-cost option to address the environmental aspects that affect their brand and image," Clouse said.
Intel is not revealing how much it will cost to buy the 1.3 billion kilowatt hours per year. However, Clouse estimated that Intel might be paying between $2 and $4 per thousand kilowatt hours, for a total yearly investment of $2.6 million to $5.2 million. "That's a pretty inexpensive media undertaking," he said.
Intel's investment in the renewable energy certificates is in addition to its regular energy costs, Calder said. But by buying the certificates, Intel is helping to fund the production of green power that is fed into the grid, he said. Ultimately, Intel hopes that other companies will follow suit, thus reducing the cost of green energy in the future, he said.
The volume of kilowatt hours that Intel agreed to buy per year equates to about 46 percent of its yearly electricity use in the United States, Calder said.
Also on Monday, Nokia pledged to use green electricity to power half of its facilities by 2010 and reduce overall energy needs of its sites by 6 percent by 2012, announcing that it has joined the WWF program. Nokia also plans to reduce energy wasted by mobile-phone chargers.
Greenpeace recently knocked Nokia from first place to ninth in a ranking of electronics makers. Greenpeace praised Nokia for its efforts to reduce the use of harmful chemicals in its products but said the company has done a poor job of supporting recycling programs in some countries.