Tag: suicide

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Forced Retirement a Major Factor in Physician Suicides

On By ModernMedia
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Forced retirement is a major factor when it comes to physician suicides, according to a study by Dr Kristin Kim and colleagues. Physicians also neglect to discuss physical health concerns as work stressors, the authors noted, but these are still detrimental to wellbeing – especially when it renders physicians unable to work.

The study was published in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior.

“Medicine must dispel the myth of never-ill physicians who place the needs of their patients before their own to the detriment of their own health.”

Kim et al., 2022

While physicians are known to be more likely than non-physicians to experience work-related stressors prior to suicide, the specific nature of these stressors was not known. The present study therefore aimed to better characterise job-related problems prior to physician suicide.

Using a mixed methods approach, researchers combined thematic analysis and natural language processing to develop themes representing death investigation narratives of 200 physician suicides with implicated job problems in the National Violent Death Reporting System database between 2003 and 2018.

The thematic analysis identified six overarching themes: incapacity to work due to deterioration of physical health, substance use jeopardising employment, interaction between mental health and work-related issues, relationship conflict affecting work, legal problems leading to work-related stress, and increased financial stress. Natural language processing analysis confirmed five of these themes and elucidated important subthemes.

Clinicians often neglect physical health when identifying work stressors, but poor physical health affects work performance and increases work stress, the authors said, noting that legal and psychological supports, particularly during malpractice investigations and “fit for duty” evaluations, are sorely needed.

“Medicine must dispel the myth of never-ill physicians who place the needs of their patients before their own to the detriment of their own health,” the researchers wrote.

First author Kristen Kim, MD, told Medpage Today that she hopes that this research will help physicians “give ourselves permission to attend to those needs … to prevent the dire consequences that we may see.”

The findings highlight the importance of bolstering systemic support for physicians experiencing job problems associated with their physical and mental health, substance use, relationships, legal matters, and finances in suicide prevention efforts.

Categories : Medical Industry Mental HealthTags :

Study Reveals Higher Suicide Rates among Pharmacists

On By ModernMedia
Phot by Mulyadi on Unsplash

While the COVID pandemic put the spotlight on the issue of mental health and burnout among doctors and nurses, less was known about the mental health of pharmacists. Results of a longitudinal study published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association reveal a suicide rate among pharmacists nearly twice that of the general population.

The figures are based on data from 2003 through 2018, show a suicide rate of 20 per 100 000 pharmacists compared to 12 per 100 000 in the general population. Study authors expect numbers to be even higher in subsequent years due to the additional stressors of the pandemic, and are currently evaluating more recent data.

“If we learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that there is a breaking point for health professionals,” said corresponding author Kelly C. Lee, PharmD, professor at UC San Diego.

The study identified the most common means of suicide in this population, with 49.8% of cases involving firearms, 29.4% involving poisoning and 13% involving suffocation. The use of firearms was similar between pharmacists and the general population, but poisoning via benzodiazepines, antidepressants and opioids was more frequent among pharmacists.

The data also provide some insight into contributing factors, including a history of mental illness and a high prevalence of job problems. Job problems are the most common feature of suicides across health care professions.

For pharmacists, Lee said job problems reflect significant changes in the industry in recent years, with more pharmacists being employed by hospitals and chain retailers as opposed to the small, private pharmacies more common in the past. Pharmacist responsibilities have also grown considerably, with larger volumes of pharmaceuticals to dispense and increasing demands to administer vaccines and other health care services.

“Pharmacists have many more responsibilities now, but are expected to do them with the same resources and compensation they had 20 years ago,” said Prof Lee. “And with strict monitoring from state and federal regulatory boards, pharmacists are expected to perform in a fast-paced environment with perfect accuracy. It’s difficult for any human to keep up with that pressure.”

Future research will further evaluate which job problems have the biggest impact and how the field can better respond. In the meantime, Prof Lee advised pharmacists to encourage help-seeking behaviours amongst themselves and their colleagues.

“Mental health is still highly stigmatised, and often even more so among health professionals,” said Prof Lee. “Even though we should know better, there is such an expectation to appear strong, capable and reliable in our roles that we struggle to admit any vulnerabilities. It’s time to take a look at what our jobs are doing to us and how we can better support each other, or we are going to lose our best pharmacists.”

Source: University of California San Diego