MDBriefCase will be unavailable due to maintenance from Sunday, January 14 11PM to Monday, January 15 1AM ET.
Welcome
Depression is a common disorder, and physicians and healthcare workers are especially at risk. A recent 2021 CMA National Physician Health Survey found that 48 percent of physicians are positive for depression, while 36 percent have thought about suicide at some point. Of those, 14 percent thought about it in the last 12 months. Like patients, physicians struggle with mental health issues for different reasons.
Depression is a common mental health disorder and affects about 4.4 percent of people globally. However, doctors experience higher rates of depression and anxiety than the general population.
Many possible factors contribute, including genetics, traumatic life events, grief, illness, and relationship breakdowns. For physicians and healthcare workers, stress is also a significant factor and is caused by:
Doctors and healthcare workers also tend to set high personal expectations out of fear of making mistakes and a deep desire and need to provide quality care. The result can be perfectionism, obsessiveness, and trouble unwinding from patients.
However, this is not sustainable. Eventually many HCPs will start to disconnect and depersonalize to cope. These tactics can also lead to emotional exhaustion, burnout, and a higher risk of mental illness and suicide.
Managing stress can help ease heightened emotions and psychological pressure and help you stay mentally well. To start, prioritize sleep. On-call shifts and long hours can cause a significant lack of sleep, leading to anger, hostility, and depression. Help your body adapt with scheduled naps, controlled exposure to daylight, and caffeine or short-term melatonin use to promote wakefulness or sleep.
Set limits with your work. Develop relaxation rituals to help clear your mind of work stress and take time for your friends, family, and hobbies. Schedule and take your holidays or ask for a reduced workload if necessary.
Get help with other personal concerns, like troubling relationships, financial stress, or addiction. See your doctor for treatment or talk to your local physician’s health program for a referral.
While you might be trained to diagnose and treat mental illness, it’s not always easy to spot your own symptoms. You might also feel shame or guilt about your condition, causing it to go undiagnosed for a long time. Recognizing the risks in yourself can help you recover earlier.
Protect your mental health with these steps:
Remember that suicide is preventable. Call 911 or go to the nearest hospital if you are in crisis.
Our mental health awareness content includes wellness for both patients and healthcare workers. Join the MDBriefCase community for free and stay up-to-date on guidelines and accredited professional development.
199 Bay Street #4000, Toronto,
ON M5L 1A9
In submitting your work (the “Work”) for potential posting on the MDBriefCase Healthcare Leadership Lab website (the “Website”), you (“You”) expressly agree to the following:
Review: MDBriefCase is pleased to consider the publication of Your Work on the Website. The suitability of the Work for posting shall be determined by MDBRiefCase at its sole discretion. Nothing herein shall obligate MDBriefcase to post or otherwise publish the Work, or the maintain its posting in future.
Editing; Identification: MDBriefcase shall have the right to edit the Work to conform to our standards of style, technological requirements, language usage, grammar and punctuation, provided that the meaning of the Work is not materially altered. If posted, You will be identified as the author of the Work, or co-author if applicable.
Grant of Rights: As a condition of publication and for no monetary compensation, You hereby grant to MDBriefCase the following rights to the Work in any and all media whether now existing or hereafter developed, including print and electronic/digital formats: (1) the exclusive right of first publication worldwide; (2) the perpetual non-exclusive worldwide right to publish, reproduce, distribute, sell, adapt, perform, display, sublicense, and create derivative works, alone or in conjunction with other materials; (3) the perpetual non-exclusive worldwide right to use the Work, or any part thereof, in any other publication produced by MDBriefCase and/or on MDBriefCase’s website; and (4) the perpetual non-exclusive worldwide right to use the Work to promote and publicize MDBriefCase or its publications. The grant of rights survives termination or expiration of this Agreement.
Warranty: You warrant that the Work is original with You and that it is not subject to any third party copyright; that You have authority to grant the rights in this Agreement; that publication of the Work will not libel anyone or infringe on or invade the rights of others; that You have full power and authority to enter into this Agreement; that the Work has not been published elsewhere in whole or in part; and that You have obtained permission from the copyright owner consistent with this Agreement for any third party copyrighted material in the Work. This warranty survives termination or expiration of this Agreement.
Thank you for your interest in writing an article for the MDBriefCase Healthcare Leadership Lab website.
The Healthcare Leadership Lab welcomes submissions on all topics relevant to leaders in healthcare. Our topics include Leading in Healthcare, Leadership Lessons from COVID-19 and others. We prioritize stories that provide leadership advice to executives and managers in healthcare companies, offer actionable strategies for executing successful projects, and provide interesting angles on current healthcare topics. Submissions must be original work of the authors and unpublished. When submitting, authors represent that they have included no material that is in violation of the rights of any other person or entity.
Articles must be educational and non-promotional. If they mention the author’s company or any of the company’s products or services by name within the text, such mention should be very limited and used for reference only, not for promotion. (For example, an author might cite a survey conducted by his company but not describe his company’s product as a solution to a business problem.) Articles will be edited for clarity, style and brevity. The final headline is determined by the editor.
Guest articles for the MDBriefCase Healthcare Leadership Lab may run between 500 and 1000 words.
MDBriefCase reserves the right to accept or reject any submission and the right to condition acceptance upon revision of material to conform to its criteria.
There is no payment for contributed articles. However, MDBriefCase will give the author a byline. Authors are invited to link to the article on personal websites, corporate websites and social media platforms.
Each author understands and agrees that any submission accepted for posting is provided subject to MDBriefCase’s Author Agreement.
