Welcome to the EPA 2022 Interactive Programme 

Abstract Body

Previous studies have found relatively good physical health in doctors, whereas several studies now report relatively high levels of stress and burnout among them. With the exception of higher suicide rates, we have less evidence of poorer mental health among doctors than among other professionals. The elevated suicide rate may represent the tip of an iceberg of frustration and inadequate mental health care among medical doctors. There are very few longitudinal studies that can identify possible risk factors and causality.

The Longitudinal Study of Norwegian Medical Students and Doctors (NORDOC) has since 1993/94 followed repeatedly two cohorts of medical students (N=1052) in seven waves during 25 years (Facebook: @docsinrush). Outcomes presented here are on mental health, burnout and problematic drinking. There are two main hypotheses with regard to possible risk factors. First, it may be due to individual factors such as personality traits, past mental health problems etc. Second, contextual stress may influence mental health among doctors, whether this be unhealthy working conditions or negative life events (i.e. stress outside of work). The presentation will give and overview of both individual and work-related predictors of stress and mental health problems among Norwegian physicians. Individual and organizational interventions to reduce stress and physician burnout will also be dealt with.

Abstract Body

Background:

Surveys assessing alcohol use among physicians most commonly employed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) or the AUDIT-C. As with other screeners, prevalence estimation is dependent on the accuracy of the test as well as choice of the cut-off value. The aim of the current study is to use samples from various countries derive more precise prevalence estimates of alcohol problems in physicians by correcting for false positive and false negative results using samples from various countries

Method: At the Congress of the German Association of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 2005 in Berlin, 1800 questionnaires, which included the AUDIT-C were distributed among the attending participants. 936 questionnaires (52%) were returned. Also, the data are compared to a second study, performed in Salzburg, Austria to further elucidate the situation.

The screening results will be presented and compared to the values when using a correction- formula using data from a general population sample on sensitivity and specificity of the AUDIT-C.

Results: Based on the results of AUDIT-C and using a cut-off of 5 for both sexes, 24.1% of the sample of 887 physicians of the German sample are problematic drinkers (14.7% in female and 32 % in male physicians). Using a correction formula leads to markedly lower rates: 6.1% (all), 3.7% (female), 8.1% (male).

Discussion: In this large sample, findings clearly confirm that uncorrected screening results lead to severe over-estimation of the prevalence of problematic drinking in physicians. The corrected prevalence rates are lower than in the general population.

Abstract Body

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised several concerns regarding its mental health effect on patients and professionals. In the beginning, the absence of knowledge about the disease transmission or effective therapies, the quick spread among the population collapsing hospitals in combination with the lack of protection measures put healthcare professionals working in the frontline in a high stressful situation.

The professionals had to face several unprecedented challenges: improvised hospitals, living in hotels to avoid infecting the family, deciding, as in wartime, which patients could be intubated and which could not, doubling shifts, and above all, the uncertainty about the disease, the high severity and the contagiousness that isolated the patients from their family, leaving the health professional with the responsibility of being a caregiver in the broad sense of the word.

With this picture several studies have reported a high prevalence of mental disorders. A survey of 9138 Spanish professionals conducted during the first wave of the pandemic showed that 45.7% had a mental disorder (depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder and SUD), 14.5% had any disabling current mental disorder and 8.4% had suicidal thoughts.

In Spain, managed by the Galatea Foundation, there is a special programme of confidential care for doctors with a mental illness or addiction. During the pandemic, a 30% increase of requests for help were registered, 70% of which came from primary health care professionals.

The presentation provides also qualitative data with testimonies of professionals and anti-stress protection measures implemented by some health institutions.

Abstract Body

Alcohol, psychoactive substance abuse, and burnout are areas of significant problems within health care professionals and medical doctors. In 2011 we did a survey (n = 1601) in Belgium among the medical specialists. Beginning of 2021, exactly 10 years after the first survey, we repeated the survey this time among both medical specialists, general practitioners, and pharmacists. The results of this survey (N = 4361) will be presented and tendencies compared with international findings. We discuss the findings from both the longitudinal perspective using our 2011 data and also from the perspective of the impact of the Covid19 pandemic on health professionals.