Doctors ‘should receive counselling’

Doctors should receive counselling to help reduce emotional exhaustion and sick leave, research claims.

A report published on bmj.com today suggests that the health professionals should receive short term counselling followed by a modest cut in work hours.

It is suggested that doctors have higher rates of depression and suicide than the general population but are less likely to seek help for their problems.

As a result, there have been calls for early intervention programmes to help doctors with any mental distress they may experience and prevent burnout before problems start interfering with the welfare of patients.

The authors of today’s report examined levels of burnout and predictors of reduction in emotional exhaustion after one year, in 227 stressed doctors who participated in voluntary counselling.

One year after a counselling intervention the stressed doctors reported a reduction in emotional exhaustion and job stress, today’s report claim.

The authors also found that the number of doctors on full-time sick leave reduced substantially in the year following their counselling, from 35 per cent to six per cent, and that the use of psychotherapy also substantially increased from 20 per cent to 53 per cent in the following year.

A reduction in work hours after the intervention was also associated with a reduction in emotional exhaustion.

“Our findings indicate that seeking a counselling intervention could be conducive to reduction of burnout among doctors. Considering doctors’ reluctance to seek help?it is important to offer interventions that facilitate access”, the authors conclude.