Time to revisit Ashburton? Junior hospital doctor employment in New Zealand 1985-2002

[...]some argue that residents are an elastic source of physician labour and that extended hours are a concession to the economic realities of fiscal temperance. The immediate problems for hospitals were: * junior doctors had come to constitute 24% of the medical workforce, when the optimum for a balanced staff mix was considered to be 8-12% (reference source not identified); * the NZ hospital system had become structurally dependent on overseas graduates; * continuity of patient care was no longer usually provided by junior staff. Members of the Committee: Nanette Ainge, Professional Development Coordinator, Department of Nursing; Michael Ardagh, Emergency Medicine Specialist; Michael Jamieson, Human Resources Manager; Kelvin Lynn, Chief of Medicine and Committee Chairman; John Thwaites, Physician and Director Medical Education and Training Unit; Jim Magee, General Manager, Christchurch Hospital; John Morton, Medical Adviser, RMO Unit; Karen Schaab, Manager, RMO Unit; Andrew Vincent, Orthopaedic Surgeon.