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Harvey SB, Epstein RM, Glozier N, Petrie K, Strudwick J, Gayed A, Dean K, Henderson M. Mental illness and suicide among physicians. Lancet 2021; 398:920-930. [PMID: 34481571 PMCID: PMC9618683 DOI: 10.1016/s0140-6736(21)01596-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2019] [Revised: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened interest in how physician mental health can be protected and optimised, but uncertainty and misinformation remain about some key issues. In this Review, we discuss the current literature, which shows that despite what might be inferred during training, physicians are not immune to mental illness, with between a quarter and a third reporting increased symptoms of mental ill health. Physicians, particularly female physicians, are at an increased risk of suicide. An emerging consensus exists that some aspects of physician training, working conditions, and organisational support are unacceptable. Changes in medical training and health systems, and the additional strain of working through a pandemic, might have amplified these problems. A new evidence-informed framework for how individual and organisational interventions can be used in an integrated manner in medical schools, in health-care settings, and by professional colleagues is proposed. New initiatives are required at each of these levels, with an urgent need for organisational-level interventions, to better protect the mental health and wellbeing of physicians.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel B Harvey
- Black Dog Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia.
| | - Ronald M Epstein
- Center for Communication and Disparities Research, Department of Family Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Nicholas Glozier
- Sydney School of Medicine (Central Clinical School), Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Katherine Petrie
- Black Dog Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia; School of Psychiatry, UNSW Medicine, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia
| | - Jessica Strudwick
- Black Dog Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia
| | - Aimee Gayed
- Black Dog Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia
| | - Kimberlie Dean
- School of Psychiatry, UNSW Medicine, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia; Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network, Matraville, NSW, Australia
| | - Max Henderson
- Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
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