Guidelines on suicide amongst anaesthetists 2019

Abstract

Summary Anaesthetists are thought to be at increased risk of suicide amongst the medical profession. The aims of the following guidelines are: increase awareness of suicide and associated vulnerabilities, risk factors and precipitants; to emphasise safe ways to respond to individuals in distress, both for them and for colleagues working alongside them; and to support individuals, departments and organisations in coping with a suicide.

Medicine and the human factor

“…This can easily be extended into the critical care environment as a part of cultural change that will also aim to create a peer safety network, improve education and early access to specialist support services. 38 There should be an offer of ‘safe haven’ 33 —a confidential access to help that avoids mandatory reporting, labelling or stigmatising of a troubled clinician.…”

Workplace well‐being in pediatric anesthesia: How to design and implement a bespoke evidence‐based framework in your department

“…2,3 Systemsbased approaches are required to reduce the risk of harm that anesthetists face in the workplace, for example the increased risk of suicide, which has resulted in the development of guidelines about preventing suicide in departments and how to manage the aftermath of the sudden death of a colleague. [4][5][6] In addition to these inherent risks, the pediatric anesthetist is constantly confronted by sick or dying children and high levels of expressed emotion, including patient and parental anxiety and grief. This results in the pediatric anesthetist becoming adept at particular clinical skills.…”

“…Physician ill health has negative consequences for healthcare systems as we have seen during the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic 2,3 . Systems‐based approaches are required to reduce the risk of harm that anesthetists face in the workplace, for example the increased risk of suicide, which has resulted in the development of guidelines about preventing suicide in departments and how to manage the aftermath of the sudden death of a colleague 4‐6 …”

Correction

“…In the Guidelines by Shinde et al., ‘Guidelines on suicide amongst anaesthetists 2019’ , two endorsing organisations, the Intensive Care Society and Health Education England, were omitted on the first page of the Guidelines as they signed up after publication of the Guidelines. They have now been added to the list of organisations who have endorsed the Guidelines:…”