Exhausted doctors in Australia's northeastern state of Queensland have been advised by the government to drink more coffee.
A 102-page "fatigue management strategy" developed by Queensland Health, has recommended that the "strategic use of caffeine" could be beneficial to extremely tired doctors.
The document suggested medics should consume 400 milligrams of caffeine, which is equivalent to six cups of coffee, to stay awake on the job.
As such a high coffee intake was "not always feasible or realistic", the report said doctors could take caffeine tablets or energy drinks as an alternative.
"Compared with other psychoactive drugs, for example, modafinil (a prescription-only narcolepsy treatment), caffeine is supported in its use as it is more readily available and less expensive," the document said.
The recommendation comes after 88 per cent of doctors in a survey of 113 state hospitals said they experienced dangerous fatigue while working.
A union representing Queensland doctors also warned that public hospital patients were dying because dangerously tired medics were being forced to work up to 80 hours without a break.
However, the suggestion that coffee was the solution to the staffing crisis has been greeted with disdain by Australian doctors.
Susannah McAuliffe, of Salaried Doctor's Queensland, said the strategy was "absolutely ridiculous" and would put patients in further danger.
Andrew Pesce, chairman of the Australian Medical Association, said the real answer to fatigue management was sensible rostering.
"It would be hard for me to be convinced that caffeine that makes you feel less tired is going to necessarily improve your performance," he said.
"I think at the end of the day, we should be focusing on a fundamentally safe rostering system and an acknowledgement that certain minimum number of hours of sleep is what is necessary to maximise performance."
Paul Lucas, Queensland's health minister, said the state was aiming to train more doctors and cap hospital shifts at 12 hours over the next two years, but had no immediate solution to fatigue and staff shortages.
"If the doctors are not there, we can't do it," he said. "We can't say we'd rather not have it as it is and create doctors out of the air."
Australia's federal government is currently under pressure to seize control of the nation's ailing public hospital system, which is currently managed by state governments.
Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, made repairing the health system a campaign promise in 2007 and has warned that a full takeover of public hospitals was still on the cards.
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