Shift system for senior house officer on call duties on a neonatal intensive care unit.

To reduce the number of hours that senior house officers in the neonatal department at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, have to work continuously a new on call rota was devised. The rota changed the traditional one in three system of 24 and 32 hour periods on call to one with two shifts each day, and it spread the workload more evenly among the personnel. The continuity of care of the patients was improved, no extra staff were recruited, and the new system was favoured by senior and junior medical and nursing staff.