The level of stress among hospital doctors and how this may be contributing to their ill-health is to be examined in a new study.

Occupational health physician Dr Blanaid Hayes, who is based in Beaumont Hospital and is carrying out the research, said stress in the medical profession is a significant problem.

"As an occupational physician I know first-hand this is a problem because I see it in my practice and I hear it from colleagues in other hospitals too.

"Frontline healthcare workers and clinicians are presenting with mood disorders and stress-related conditions which are at least in part related to staff shortages and increased working hours," she said.

Dr Hayes said most doctors were coping without any obvious adverse effects considering the strain they work under.

However, we cannot really know, therefore we are starting to delve into key stressors in the first wave of research. When we've got that we'll begin a major national survey looking at the prevalence of stress and of course, well-being," she said.

The failure to implement the European Working Time Directive (EWTD), which limits the working week to 48 hours with eleven-hour intervals between shifts, is often cited as a reason for workplace strain in hospital doctors, Dr Hayes said.

She also believes that heavy workloads and onerous rotas for doctors in Irish hospitals are eroding their quality of life and contributing to the large number of Irish medics who are emigrating every year.

Dr Hayes will be circulating the first of two surveys among hospital doctors in April and is appealing for a good response.

"I'm appealing strongly to those who are working in the system to firstly respond to the survey but also give thought to their answers. This is about getting an accurate on-the-ground view of what it is like to work as a hospital doctor in Ireland."

The study is being organised by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI).