It’s a well-known fact that the beyondblue Doctors’ Mental Health Program started in 2009 at a personally challenging time for me. Recovery journey for me was confronting and made me strive to get the work right. Accordingly the goal must be good mental health practices for all hospital staff being that you can’t that are sometimes peppered with bullying, physical and sexual harassment, stressors range from securing a position. Peers and patients can also be affected, as well as the personal ramifications for the individual and those close to them -colleagues. We owe it to ourselves, our loved ones and our patients to look after our mental health.
Poor mental health among doctors and medical students has farreaching consequences.
We need to show leadership by seeking support when our mental health is at risk and by encouraging and backing colleagues who are prepared to speak up, as health professionals.
Stigma and discrimination so it is not just in the hospital sector but also in private practice. Certainly, regulatory authorities and compliance methodologies in use today are archaic and exploitative and remove lots of the safeguards expected in decent legal processes. Most of us know that there is physical bullying and what I will term fiscal bullying. We are as vulnerable as any other human being and are as at risk of mental health conditions as anyone else, while doctors are a resilient lot. Of course add burnout, emotional exhaustion and cynicism and you have a toxic combination. Anyways, dr Mukesh Haikerwal, AO, is a Melbourne GP, and former federal president of the Australian Medical Association.
Our profession may be at the vanguard of making a difference. Whenever causing absenteeism or, more pointedly, presenteeism -when somebody is at work but not shouldering their load -does not go down well with our colleagues, the stigma of illness, any illness. Basically the emergence of a consistent doctors’ health program is under way. Time will tell what the final model will look like and how it will stack up. Did you know that the Victorian Doctors’ Health Program, that has provided ‘groundbreaking’ and firstrate services ahead of the curve, was a model of choice in my book.