What Is the Prevalence of the Experience of Death of a Patient by Suicide Among Medical Students and Residents? A Systematic Review

Abstract

Although the data are limited, psychiatry residents commonly experience the death of a patient by suicide. There is a paucity of data on this topic concerning the experiences of medical students and of residents in other specialties.

Improving Psychiatric Education Related to Suicide

“…The prevalence of patient death by suicide across studies ranged from 31 to 69 %. In a new study reported in this collection by Deringer and Caligor [7], 8 of 23 psychiatry resident participants or 35 % had encountered patient suicide at the low end of the range identified by Puttagunta et al [6]. No prevalence data on this experience among medical students and residents in other specialties exist, to our knowledge, and we hope that future empirical work will ascertain the frequency and help define the influence of the experience of patient suicide on physicians-in-training.…”

“…The systematic review of Puttagunta et al [6] highlights the observation that psychiatry residents commonly experience the death of a patient by suicide. The prevalence of patient death by suicide across studies ranged from 31 to 69 %.…”

“…No prevalence data on this experience among medical students and residents in other specialties exist, to our knowledge, and we hope that future empirical work will ascertain the frequency and help define the influence of the experience of patient suicide on physicians-in-training. Furthermore, as Puttagunta et al [6] note, we also know little about psychiatry residents' experience of death of a patient by suicide in the USA because there have been no recent surveys on this topic area.…”

What Are Some Stressful Adversities in Psychiatry Residency Training, and How Should They Be Managed Professionally?

“…According to one systematically conducted review [17], the prevalence of psychiatry residents' experience of the death of a patient by suicide ranged from 31 to 69%. Notably, only one of the eight cross-sectional studies included in this review was conducted in the USA, and this study had low numbers of psychiatrists and is now dated [18].…”

Training as a Psychiatrist When Having a Psychiatric Illness

“…While much has been written about the general stresses of residency (e.g., fatigue and sleep disruption, frustrations from working with uncooperative or demanding patients, demoralization from feeling that efforts are not resulting in substantial patient improvements), psychiatry training has its own relatively unique set of stressors, including adversities associated with aggressive acts by patients towards residents and the suicide of a patient [11,15,16]. Loss of patients is a grave stressor for residents in many fields, but loss by suicide carries unique challenges for the physician [1,15].…”