Implementation of Structured Suicide Risk Screening in a State Physician Health Monitoring Program
Lisa Merlo, PhD, MPE
Cristiana Araujo, PhD
Published in: Archives of Suicide Research
Read more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40515688/
What’s This Study About?
Physician suicide is a significant public health concern. High rates of burnout, psychological distress, and substance use disorders among physicians likely contribute to the increased risk observed in this population. Fortunately, there are opportunities for intervention. Physician health programs (PHPs) are state-based organizations that assist physicians (and sometimes other healthcare professionals) who have potentially-impairing conditions to access appropriate treatment and achieve/maintain stable recovery. They have a dual mission to restore the physicians to health and medical practice while protecting patient safety. Given their unique role, PHPs may be a vital resource in physician suicide prevention. This paper describes the implementation and outcomes of a new suicide risk screening program in the Florida PHP. Results suggest that the program was successful, offering a roadmap for other state PHPs to adopt a similar program to support their physician participants.
Key Findings:
- Physician health programs can identify physicians at risk for suicide and intervene.
- Female physicians and those with psychiatric disorders report higher risk.
- Physicians’ suicide risk appears to decrease over the course of PHP monitoring.
Why It Matters:
PHPs offer support to mitigate suicide risk among physicians. The observed decrease in suicide risk across monitoring may reflect the recovery processes that monitoring is intended to support.