Doctors need ‘debriefing after trauma’

General practitioners should be “debriefed” after a trauma such as the death of a patient by suicide, a doctor’s conference heard yesterday.

Monaghan GP IIlona Duffy said there were six suicide patients in her practice over the last five years.

Speaking at the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) conference in Killarney, Co Kerry, Dr Duffy said she had “personal dealings” with all of the patients who had taken their lives.

She had gone to three of the patients who died by suicide to pronounce their death.

“There was no counselling provided to me at any stage,” she said. “And I am sure that, for many of us here, it is the very same.”

Dr Duffy said the death of a patient by suicide had affected her and it was something she would always remember.

There were several simple measures that could be taken, such as “debriefing after trauma”, she said.

Earlier, medical director of the Practitioner Health Matters Programme, Ide Delargy, said that the strictly confidential service helped doctors suffering from stress and burnout.

However, doctors were referred on to the Medical Council if a doctor was non-compliant, there was a concern about a practitioner’s health or there was an imminent risk to the doctor, patients or the public.

Dr Delargy said the service was free of charge for all doctors and deliberately so because doctors under stress for one reason or another were often experiencing financial difficulties as well.

“Our experience is that practitioners, instead of seeking help, try to self-manage and self-direct,” she said.

“They resort to either alcohol and/or other substances to manage their stress, burnout, unhappiness or mental health problems, and that compounds things even further.”

Dr Delargy said small and persistent changes in a doctors’s performance needed to be taken seriously.

“Usually the workplace is the last place where signs of impairment will appear,” she said.

Behind the scenes there would be real chaos, said Dr Delargy.

“One of the best things you could do for a colleague is point them in the direction of help,” she said.

“It can be life-changing as well as career-changing for many of our colleagues.”

Dr Delargy also referred to the Practitioner Health Matters Programme’s 2017 report. It shows that 58% of doctors who had been helped had mental health problems, 29% were suffering from substance abuse and 13% were suffering from a combination of substance abuse and mental health problems.

She said that the programme’s success rate was very good.

“No matter how difficult the problem is, over 80% of doctors can get back working safely and well,” she said.

However, prevention was better than cure and they were working hard on raising awareness of the programme and the importance of early intervention, she said.

“The healers also need healing,” said Dr Delargy.