European Working Time Directive

The current bain of my working life is the European working time directive. Not only are my hours considerably less than someone in my position would have worked a few years ago (yes, that IS a bad thing, but my lack of clinical exposure is a topic for another blog), junior doctors are now subject to "monitoring". This involves having to write down exactly the hours you were working, whether or not you took your breaks and explaining what precisely you were doing if you were late finishing or didn't get a tea break. Should you have the audacity to stay late so as not to hand over a crappy job, or be too busy try to resuscitate a septic patient to go for lunch, you are reminded that you are breaking the law. It is also highly likely that you will be accused of having poor time management skills. I cannot think of another circumstance where commitment to your job, working extra hours for no extra pay and attempting to make life easier for your colleagues leads to criticism. Is it any wonder junior doctors are disillusioned?!!!