Doctors’ stress levels 10% above threshold

STRESS levels among doctors are at least 10% higher than the general population leading to high rates of alcoholism, depression, substance abuse and suicide.

A study published in the British Medical Journal has found that doctors exhibit higher levels of psychological disturbance than people in equivalent professional occupations.

Health problems ranged from anxiety through emotional exhaustion to clinical depression, substance misuse, and suicide.

Depression, alcoholism, and anxiety disorders were most common, according to the study.

Long working hours; high workloads; the pressure of work and its effect on doctors’ personal lives, with many reluctant to seek help, were cited as the major factors for psychological disturbance.

The study said the proportion of doctors and other health professionals showing above threshold levels of stress has stayed remarkably constant at around 28%, compared with about 18% in the general working population.

The Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), which agrees with the study’s findings, has rolled out its own healthcare programme to tackle ill-health among members.

“Essentially it’s a system of care for the carers, developed in response to the extremely stressful and demanding position Irish GPs find themselves in,” said ICGP spokesman Dr Brendan O’Shea.

Called Health in Practice (HiP), it is a network of occupational physicians, psychiatrists, counsellors and GPs for GPs.

HiP director Dr Andrée Rochfort said doctors seeking treatment within the network were assured of confidentiality and a doctor/patient relationship.

“For too long, doctors have been either doing their own tests and following up on their own results or going to GPs that they know socially,” the doctor said.

“This is not conducive to a doctor/patient relationship.

“A lot of cases are sensitive. For instance, a doctor may have a drink problem and not be comfortable going to a GP that he/she knows.

“Through the HiP network, they are guaranteed a formal assessment and a formal follow-up, where the doctor is treated as a patient.”

Dr Rochfort said they were anxious to assess the extent of stress-related problems among general practitioners but that lack of funding prevented them from doing so.

The medical journal study also pointed out that stress was costing the taxpayer money through absence, litigation, and the fact that unhappy, tense, tired, or anxious doctors do not produce quality care.