Prevención del suicidio en médicos

Abstract

The rate of suicide in physicians is known to be higher than that of the general public. The health of doctors has always received scant attention from their colleagues, in spite of considerable and increasing evidence that morbidity and mortality are high in the profession. Caring for others imposes considerable strains on the careers. The stress by clinical uncertainty and the fear of failure are important parts of the medical ethos. It is recognized that those who do care for others often have great difficulty in asking for, and receiving, care for themselves. Suicide rates for doctors in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries are higher than general population and other professions. The suicide rate of male physicians is slightly higher than that of the general population, while that of their female colleagues is clearly higher. This tendency is most pronounced in female psychiatrist and anesthetists. Doctors have specific needs for health care by suffer abnormally high levels of alcoholism, drug dependence, marital breakdown, mental illness and suicide. The self-medication is common among doctors, particularly sleeping tablets, antidepressants and opiate analgesics. Many of the difficulties are related to stress, high responsibility and insufficient time to do the work and to live reconciling demands between work and family. Many doctors show an increased impediment for discuss their problems with colleagues, and treat themselves, which is notoriously hazardous. Doctors' easy access to drug makes drug abuse a potential occupational hazard for men and women.

Marco actual del suicidio e ideas suicidas en personal sanitario

“…Related with this theme, several studies worldwide have analyzed the prevalence of consummated suicide and suicidal ideation in different professional groups. Many of them agree that the prevalence in health professionals is among the highest 6,7,10,11 , and most of the reviewed articles agree with this statement 9,13,[15][16][17][18] . This could relate to the particular needs of this group, with conditions and work organization almost exclusively of this sector, dedicated to the care of patients, sometimes with the presence of situations of anxiety and helplessness.…”

“…In many occasions suicide prevalences may be underestimated because they are based on death records, and when an event of such magnitude and impact as the suicide of a health professional occurs, this event may be included in the list of accidents to avoid social stigma. In the studies of suicidal ideation the same thing may occur, since they are based on self-administered surveys to assess the presence of suicidal ideation, and as described in other studies, physicians in particular have difficulties to recognize the presence of mental illness for fear of affecting their work life 10 .…”

“…Higher rates relative to specialty have also been observed, being higher in anesthetists and psychiatrists [6][7][8][9] . It is known that in many cases physicians have specific health care needs and sometimes this leads them to high levels of substance abuse and mental illness 10 . These features can be related to the high stress and responsibility of their work, as well as to the difficulties in reconciling family and work life.…”

Calidad de vida en médicos en formación de postgrado

“…errores (53)(54)(55); no obstante, en la población de residentes también se encuentran datos sobre abuso de alcohol, consumo de sustancias alucinógenas e, incluso, suicidios (43,56). Desde hace algunos años, se sabe que la tasa de suicidio entre los médicos se encuentra entre 28 y 40 por 100.000, cifra que se considera más alta en comparación con la de la población general, que es de 12,3 por 100.000, lo que se califica como la mayor tasa entre todos los profesionales (57,58).…”

Síndrome de burnout en médicos de la ciudad de Arequipa (Perú)

“…Asimismo, diversos factores de índole personal, también se han asociado al síndrome de burnout, tales como el sexo femenino 23,24 , la falta de experiencia mediada por la edad 24 , el estado civil soltero 25 y otras de índole psicológica. En tal sentido, el síndrome de burnout en médicos se ha asociado positivamente con estrategias inadecuadas de afrontamiento del estrés 26 , sentimientos de pérdida de la ilusión por el trabajo 27 , sintomatología depresiva 28,29 y tendencias suicidas 30 ; mientras que se ha asociado negativamente con el sentido de autoeficacia profesional 31 , el bienestar psicológico 32 , ciertos valores personales y profesionales 33 , sensibilidad interpersonal positiva y expresión de emociones positivas 34 , así como recursos personales positivos 35 . Puede decirse entonces, que los factores de riesgo y afectación del síndrome de burnout abarcan el nivel personal y organizacional 36 , que repercute en su rendimiento laboral, y en salud física y mental 37 .…”