Healthcare professionals suffering from burnout should be met with compassion rather than blame, according to a prominent GP. Professor Dame Clare Gerada, past president of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), emphasizes the need for empathetic treatment of doctors and nurses experiencing mental health issues.
Dame Gerada criticizes the prevalent tendency among employers to treat healthcare professionals like “naughty schoolchildren” when they fall ill or struggle with mental health problems. She advocates for comprehensive guidelines that prioritize “kindness” and “sensitivity.”
As a co-founder of the mental health charity Doctors in Distress, Professor Gerada addresses the necessity for significant reforms in her upcoming book, The Handbook of Physician Mental Health, which aims to transform care for mentally ill healthcare workers. The book, set to be published next week, highlights the alarming suicide rates among doctors, which are up to four times higher than those in other professions. General practitioners, psychiatrists, and internationally trained doctors are particularly vulnerable, as are female clinicians who juggle patient care and family responsibilities.
The book identifies several factors contributing to mental health issues among clinicians, including increased workload, bullying, and racism. Another critical issue is what Gerada terms “the industrialization of care,” where the emphasis on meeting strict targets undermines personalized patient care.
The Handbook of Physician Mental Health references high-profile cases of doctor suicides, such as junior doctor Rose Polge in 2016 and psychiatrist Daksha Emson, who tragically took her own life and that of her daughter in 2000. The current crisis in general practice, marked by a significant workload increase without corresponding growth in funding or workforce, exacerbates these issues.
Fear is a pervasive factor in the mental health struggles and suicides of physicians. They fear losing their professional identity, being ostracized from the medical community, becoming patients themselves, facing abuse and exclusion, making mistakes, displeasing seniors, and failing to meet patient expectations.
Sick healthcare professionals seek compassionate treatment characterized by sensitivity, sympathy, empathy, and non-judgment. However, trainers, employers, and regulators often regard them as transgressors rather than patients, conflating illness with performance issues requiring disciplinary action.
The evidence-based handbook provides detailed insights into the causes of doctors’ mental health decline, methods to identify at-risk individuals, and effective recovery strategies. It draws from the experiences of NHS Practitioner Health, a mental health service supporting approximately 6,500 health and care professionals annually.
While the General Medical Council and British Medical Association offer guidance on the conduct of doctors dealing with illness or consulting sick colleagues, Professor Gerada critiques this advice for being framed in terms of “blame, harm, and avoiding problems” rather than compassion.
Patient complaints significantly impact doctors’ mental health, as many derive their self-worth from their professional roles. Allegations of wrongdoing or inadequate treatment can severely damage their self-perception, especially given the unsocial hours, night shifts, and frequent relocations required for career progression, which can lead to loneliness and increased mental health risks. Gerada notes, “Doctors can find themselves surrounded by people and yet very much alone.”
Professor Gerada also highlights the barriers preventing healthcare workers from seeking help. Concerns about confidentiality, public misconceptions of doctors as immune to illness, and training that prioritizes patient needs over their own contribute to their reluctance to disclose their struggles.
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