Advanced intensive care and emergency medicine trainee John Zorbas says he doesn't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times his doctor colleagues have fallen asleep while driving home.
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Fatigue is in the sights of the Australian Medical Association after a 2011 audit by the powerful lobby revealed hospital doctors worked unbroken shifts of up to 43 hours and weeks of up to 120 hours.
The AMA launched its 2016 Safe Hours Audit on Sunday.
"It's not the kind of job where you can put down tools, walk off site and leave it for another day, so when you do get instances where there's a lack of capacity, someone's called in sick and there's no contingency, it's very easy to pull on the heartstrings of doctors and say we need you to work a bit longer," Dr Zorbas, the AMA Council of Doctors in Training chairman, said.
"You fix the short-term problem but you don't see the long-term problem you've created in the terms of fatigue, hazards, what you're doing to patients and what you're doing to the system."
Research has shown doctors who work more than 17 hours have the equivalent abilities of someone working with a blood-alcohol reading of 0.05.
Another study revealed those who worked more than 24 hours were about one-third more likely to commit a serious medical error.
AMA vice-president Dr Tony Bartone said working excessive overtime took a toll on doctors' health.
"Basically [this is] a really important call to the authorities and the hospitals and employers to ensure they are using up-to-date guidelines – and we do have a national code of practice – when it comes to rostering because we can't hide behind the excuse there are not enough doctors and we need to respect the quality of care and the wellbeing of doctors going forward," he said.
The previous three Safe Hours audits have shown that the number of hospital workers working unsafe hours has declined from 78 per cent in 2001 to 53 per cent in 2011.
Medical intern Elise Warren, currently based at Goulburn, said it was important safeguards were in place to protect against doctor fatigue.
"I think people understand that this profession comes with the understanding you're probably going to have to work longer hours than someone in a non-medical profession because patients don't just get better at 5pm," she said.
Results of the 2016 Safe Hours Audit will be released next year.
