Nearly 300 doctors a year die by suicide. That’s a million patients losing their doctors every year. Beyond the horrific numbers are the human stories. In this article, we reference a physician suicide register that collected details of our lost colleagues.
We remember the human beings — physicians, bright, dedicated, loved and loving, yet still human — who died by suicide.
As a psychiatrist, it took me only a few years in practice to realise that everyone needs a therapist (at least once in their lives). Doctors, nurses, and all healthcare practitioners (HCPs) are no different.
At a recent Physicians Anonymous meeting, we discussed an article on random acts of kindness. Researchers gave 84 random people in a wintry Chicago park free hot chocolates. They were then given the choice to gift it to another or keep it for themselves. Guess what happened?
Women physicians still face disproportionate challenges within their medical careers compared to men. Unsurprisingly, those women who face more work-related stressors report less satisfaction with their careers, and more burnout occurs in female doctors.
This blog explores the science of gratitude for physicians, how it may tackle burnout, and gives some suggestions for gratitude practice.
In a previous article, we explored the evidence base for gratitude. In this article, we illustrate 7 physician gratitude practices that may help on a level. We also note that no one intervention is a panacea for the core systemic issues causing the current epidemic of physician burnout and moral injury.
If there was one thing that helped me deal with my own burnout, it was hearing another General Practitioner (GP) stand up in front of a lecture theatre of 200 people and say that they had been burned out too.
The life of a physician is one of the most stressful professions. In this article, I’ll discuss the trauma of medicine and what can be done about it.
“Welcome to the Trauma Surgery Unit” said Prof. “As it’s New Year’s Day we’re expecting a quiet one.” Prof’s sense of irony (i.e. sarcasm) was legendary. That night (first shift) a young man came in. “Stabbed chest. Resus!” came over the PA system, and everyone moved.
You should know: shame is a very, very bad master. And shame does not deserve your respect, because shame is a liar. Shame is also a huge problem in medicine.
In Part 1, we made the case that a career in modern medicine meets the diagnostic criteria for addiction. Medicine can be unhealthy, yet we carry on or feel unable to make healthy changes. In Part 2, we explore how to get sober if you’re addicted to medicine.
Are physicians addicted to medicine? in this article I will argue that medicine can be so intoxicating, even if it’s bad for us, that doctors can become addicted to it. Before too long, a medical life becomes a way of life until we don’t know any different.
“For the first time in ages, I didn’t feel alone anymore that night. Despite the craziness that had happened in the days prior, I felt calm.
In this, our second Guest Physician blog by Dr Henry Harris, surgeon, alcoholic in recovery, and proudly Approved Physicians Anonymous Mentor, Dr Harris shares his experience of rehab as an alcoholic physician.
In the months before my rock bottom, it felt like there wasn’t a soul around for me to explain how I was feeling.
I had alienated almost all people from my life.
Me slowing dying and I was forgotten in triage.
A note to the suicidal doctor from the heart of one who has been there and come through stronger.
Imagine a world where no doctor needed to fear sanctions or discrimination for struggling mentally, particularly when the modern practice of medicine is so fraught with conditions causing moral distress. Here’s how to normalize physician mental health.
ED Doctor’s Burnout Story
ED Doctor’s Burnout Story
This article explores how we can solve physician burnout by changing the toxic healthcare system while also providing physicians with tools to help them recognize and treat burnout and other mental health challenges.
Here we have curated a series of validated questionnaires that will at least assist you in screening the commonest psychological problems in doctors, including physician burnout tests, depression tests, and scales for self-compassion and moral injury.
UK doctor burnout has been impacted by the pandemic, too. This article explores the UK situation with particular reference to doctors working in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).
