Physician suicide by CMAJ Podcasts published on 2019-04-29T22:22:57Z In this interview, Dr. Joy Albuquerque and Dr. Sarah Tulk talk about physician suicide, the only cause of death more common in physicians than the general public. They discuss factors that can lead to suicide and suicidal ideation (such as regulatory complaints, mental illness, culture in medicine), and they talk about what can be done to prevent this occupational health hazard. They also discuss how suicidal physicians face unique barriers to care, including concerns regarding confidentiality and discrimination. Dr. Joy Albuquerque is a psychiatrist in Toronto and medical director of the Ontario Medical Association’s physician health program. Dr. Sarah Tulk is a family physician in Milton, Ontario. She has written multiple blogs for CMAJ Blogs, such as https://cmajblogs.com/physician-mental-health-why-we-need-to-share-our-stories-of-struggle-and-success/ They co-authored a practice article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Full article: www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.181687 ----------------------------------- Where to get help: Provincial physician health program: https://www.cma.ca/provincial-physician-health-program Canada Suicide Prevention Service: 1-833-456-4566 (Phone) | 45645 (Text) | crisisservicescanada.ca (Chat) In Quebec (French): Association québécoise de prévention du suicide: 1-866-APPELLE (1-866-277-3553) ----------------------------------- Subscribe to CMAJ Podcasts on Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Overcast, Instacast, or your favourite aggregator. You can also follow us directly on our SoundCloud page or you can visit www.cmaj.ca/page/multimedia/podcasts. Genre Science Comment by Richard Doan Thanks for this interesting podcast, particularly the comments on the structural contributions to suicidality in physicians. Having practiced more than 30 years, I fully understand that our work often presents extraordinary emotional challenges. Therefore we need to make the rest of becoming and being a doctor more “ordinary” — more ordinary admission criteria, ordinary tuition fees, ordinary work hours, and more ordinary compensation. This would mean surrendering some of our elite status, training more physicians, and allowing other health professionals to practice to the full scope of their abilities. I feel we now “micro-manage” both learners and practitioners. The great majority of students and residents are driven to learn as much as possible, and with support and sound clinical instruction they become competent physicians. Endlessly testing and formally assessing them increases stress and paradoxically undermines independent learning, academic curiosity, and lifelong learning. 2019-05-06T23:40:25Z Comment by mandoboy My wife was a practicing physician for 25 years and when she got sick her colleagues treated her like shit. The community of doctors as a whole are assholes espiecially the professional organizations. 2019-05-06T12:13:15Z
