Making doctors’ mental health a priority

Get on with it. Power through. Suck it up. There is a pervasive attitude in medicine that doctors have a duty of care to patients only and not to colleagues or themselves.

This culture is not only a disservice to doctors, it actually has the opposite of the intended effect on patient care.

To better serve patients and themselves, doctors need to take a life lesson from the airplane industry – in case of a cabin pressure emergency, put your own mask on first before assisting others.

Medicine has always been stressful and demanding, but there’s never been a more critical time to support doctors’ mental health and wellbeing than during the global pandemic.

The time is right for a national commitment to prioritise the mental health and wellbeing of Australian doctors and medical students, says AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid.

Launched in October, The Every Doctor, Every Setting: A National Framework establishes a national commitment to prioritise doctors’ mental health and wellbeing.

The Framework was developed by a national working group in consultation with doctors, doctors-in-training and medical students and incorporates a review of best practice evidence.

The purpose of the Framework is to guide coordinated action on the mental health of doctors and medical students through target areas, including these five pillars for coordinated action and key targets:

1. Primary prevention
   Improve training and work environments to reduce risk.
2. Secondary prevention
   Improve capacity to recognise and respond to those needing support.
3. Tertiary prevention
   Improve the response to doctors and medical students impacted by mental ill-health and suicidal behaviour.
4. Mental health promotion
   Improve the culture of the medical profession to enable wellbeing
5. Leadership
   Improve coordinated action and accountability.

Government bodies, organisations and services, as well as individuals are encouraged to support Every Doctor, Every Setting: A National Framework by implementing it in various ways.

Step 1: The first step for stakeholders is to sign up to the framework vision, guiding principles and pillars for coordinated action.

Step 2: Develop an action plan to improve doctors’ mental health and wellbeing that is appropriate to the role of your organisation.

Step 3: Report annually on progress.

All stakeholders are encouraged to set up a leadership team that is accountable for the development and reporting of the plan. In addition, organisations should involve the medical profession in the process, map current activity and gaps, allocate resources for implementation and set up mechanisms to monitor and review the plan.

What will success look like? According to the Framework, it will result in improvements for the medical profession, the health system, as well as patients and carers.

Find more complete details on the Framework here.