Hospital interns do as much work as doctors, if reports of a recent study are believed. Richard Baron, an experienced intern wanted to find out the number of patients, phone calls and e-mails he along with his associates attended to in a year.

His task was helped by the use of electronic health record systems used by his team. These systems are used to store, retrieve and manage data related to patients.

The results were an eye opener for Baron. As per records, Baron and his co-workers handled 20 phone calls and 17 e-mails every day. They also spent between three to six hours every day on patient care visits.

The experienced intern was himself surprised by the findings. These were reported in the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. He takes care of patients from all walks of life in his medical practice.

Baron argues since being an intern is very challenging, only 2% of medical graduates are willing to pursue a career in internship. He also felt that even though interns are doing a lot of work for patients, they are not being paid properly for their jobs.

He argues that if a system is put in place which pays interns on the basis of annual amount per patient, it will be much better as compared to the present scenario. It will help the patients and make the system better and more organized.