When the Helpers Need Help: Suicide Prevention for Physicians and Other Healthcare Professionals (#ElevateTheConvo Twitter Chat)

When: September 16, 2021

8:00PM ET/7:00PM CT

6:00PM MT/5:00PM PT

September 17th, 2021

1:00AM London

10:00AM Sydney

Where:?Twitter #ElevateTheConvo

What:?1-hour conversation. Just follow the #ElevateTheConvo hashtag on Twitter and join in as our panelists -- all experts in suicide prevention and physician/healthcare professionals.

Feel free to join in the conversation. If you are new to participating in a Twitter Chat here is a brief??"how to" article . At the time of the chat just put the hashtag #ElevateTheConvo in the Twitter search field, then hit the "latest" tab and you will see the most recent posts. When you refresh the search tab new posts will emerge.

Who: All those interested in learning or sharing about suicide prevention in the healthcare industry.

Overview

Burnout. Compassion fatigue. Depression. Substance use. These are some of the contributors to suicide risk among our healthcare providers.

September 17th is National Physician Suicide Awareness Day According to their website:

Physicians

• Historical data suggests 300 to 400 doctors die by suicide each year, however that number is likely underestimated.
• A better statistic is that physicians die by suicide at a rate that is more than double the general population.
• The suicide rate among male physicians is 1.41 times higher than the general male population. And among female physicians, the relative risk is even more pronounced — 2.27 times greater than the general female population.
• Physicians and trainees can experience high degrees of mental health distress and are less likely than other members of the public to seek mental health treatment.
• In some states physicians who seek mental health assistance may be asked to report mental health issues with licensing and credentialing which often decreases help seeking behaviors.

Residents

• 28% of residents experience a major depressive episode during training versus 7-8% of similarly aged individuals in the U.S. population.
• Overall suicide is the #2 cause of resident death. #1 cause of death in male and #2 cause of death in female residents.
• The greatest proportion of residents that died by suicide are PGY1s.
• In one study, 23 percent of interns had suicidal thoughts. However, among those interns who completed four sessions of web-based cognitive behavior therapy, suicidal ideation decreased by nearly 50 percent.

RNs

• Some data suggests that up to 85% of nurses have experienced bullying at some point in their career.
• Nurses are 23% more likely to die by suicide than women in general and 4x greater than the population in general

EMT

• A recent survey of 4,000 first responders found that 6.6 percent had attempted suicide, which is more than 10 times the rate in the general population and has prompted more research into the issue.
• Suicides among first responders, often driven by emotional strain in a culture that long has discouraged showing weakness, are too common, according to organizations that track the deaths.?

In this Twitter Chat some of our nation's leading experts on the topic of suicide prevention for physicians and other healthcare professionals will talk about what is being done to help.

Questions

What are the trends in data related to suicide and suicidal thoughts/behavior in the healthcare industry? Are certain groups more vulnerable than others? Have the numbers changed over time?

What are the root causes for suicidal despair in the healthcare industry? How do other mental health challenges like addiction, anxiety, trauma and depression show up? What are the environmental factors that contribute?

How has the COVID19 pandemic exacerbated the situation of suicide in healthcare.

What initiatives are taking place to address the concerns about suicide and suicidal behavior in healthcare? What are some protective factors? Promising programs?

Panelists

Allie Min, MD

@allieminMD

Allie Min is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Assistant Dean of Career Development at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ. Her interests include professional development, mentorship, leadership development, DEI, and wellbeing.

Dr. Min completed medical school at the University of Pittsburgh (2004) and residency at the University of Arizona (2007). She served as Associate Residency Program Director from 2008-2017. She is involved in undergraduate medical education as a course facilitator and mentor.?

Dr. Min works clinically at Banner University Medical Center. She is an oral board examiner for ABEM and current Chair of the AAEM Wellness Committee.

Christopher Doty, MD

@PoppasPearls

Dr. Christopher Doty is a career medical educator and practicing Emergency Physician. He has?trained over 400 residents in his career. Dr. Doty served as a Program Director for over 15 years at two residency programs. His clinical interest has been in emergency cardiology and?acute decompensated heart failure in particular. He has also been a frequent lecturer on educational models and over the past several years, he has championed Physician Wellness and Resiliency for faculty and residents. He has been awarded several teaching awards including: the AAEM Program Director of the Year award, the ACEP National Teaching Faculty award, the AAEM Joe Lex Educator of the Year award, the EMRA Excellence in Teaching award, the EMRA Associate Program Director of the?year award, the Abraham Flexner Master Educator Award and the Provost’s Outstanding Educator Award from the University of Kentucky, and the Michael Wainscott Program Director Award from CORD, among others. He is a tenured Professor in the UK College of Medicine. He?served on the CORD Board for 6 years and as the CORD President from 2018-2019. Recently, he was recognized as a Master of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (MAAEM).

Gordon Ye

@Gordon_Y_Ye

Gordon is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of California San Diego studying Computer Science and Biomedical Computation. He is passionate about mental health, precision medicine, and health equity. Gordon's current research focuses on 3 topics: 1) characterizing healthcare worker suicides using the CDC National Violent Death Reporting System; 2) analysis of genomics variants' roles in problematic substance use using the UK Biobank; and 3) analysis of wearable device data in the context of mental health using the NIH All of Us Research Program. In his free time, Gordon enjoys keeping up-to-date on consumer tech and reading. LinkedIn:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/gordonye/

Loice Swisher, MD

@L_Swish

Dr. Loice Swisher has been a community emergency physician in the Philadelphia area for more than three decades.?She has worked with several national organizations on the topic of physician suicide prevention including AAEM, CORD, AMWA, AAS and the Coalition for Physician Wellbeing.?She is co-founder of the National Physician Suicide Awareness Day.??

Quidest Sheriff, DO, MS - "Dr. Kiki"

@Doc_U_R

Doctors Under the Radar is a health tech startup increasing awareness of physician mental health and suicide. By re-evaluating how physician suicide risk factors are assessed and examining current preventive measures in medical institutions, we will enhance current infrastructures and implement change by creating training programs for medical administrators and personnel to assure physician psychological safety within the workplace. Our mission is to empower and enlighten physician support systems nationwide to increase transparency and awareness of physician suicide and the mental health challenges across the medical profession and create and sustain a continued culture of empathy, sympathy, and compassion.?

Dr. Jessi Gold

@drjessigold

Jessica (“Jessi”) Gold, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor and the Director of Wellness,

Engagement, and Outreach in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in Saint

Louis School of Medicine. She works clinically as an outpatient psychiatrist and sees primarily

sees college and graduate students, as well as faculty, staff, and hospital employees. While she has published frequently in the more “traditional” methods of research papers and academic publications, she has also enjoyed teaching about mental health topics and decreasing stigma through writing for popular press outlets. She has been featured in, among others, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, TIME, Self, InStyle, and Forbes.?

Carol Bernstein, MD

@CarolBernMD

Carol Bernstein, MD is Professor and Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Wellbeing, Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health at the Montefiore Medical Center /Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is also a Senior Scholar in the Department of Education and Organizational Development for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). She was previously Vice Chair for Education and Director of Residency Training in Psychiatry at NYU. From 2001-2011,?Dr. Bernstein also served as the Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and the Designated Institutional Official for ACGME accredited training programs at NYU.??Dr. Bernstein is a Past-President of the American Psychiatric Association and served the Association as Vice-President, Treasurer and Trustee-at-Large and as the chair of multiple committees.?She has served as a spokesperson for the American Psychiatric Association on many occasions and received the 1997 exemplary psychiatrist award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).?She is the recipient of the APA/NIMH Vestermark Award in Psychiatric Education and the APA Alexandra Symonds Award for contributions to the advancement of women in leadership and in women’s health.?In 2018, Dr. Bernstein received a special Presidential commendation from the APA for her work in educating the public about mental illness through her role on Sirius/XM Doctor Radio.?In 2019, she received the John Gienapp Award for notable contributions to Graduate Medical Education from the ACGME and the Distinguished Service Award from the American College of Psychiatrists.

Al'ai Alvarez, MD

@alvarezzzy

Al'ai Alvarez, MD?(@alvarezzzy ) is a?national?leader?and educator on Wellness and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He is a clinical assistant professor of Emergency Medicine (EM) and the Director of Well-Being at Stanford Emergency Medicine. He co-leads the Human Potential Team and serves as the Fellowship Director of the Stanford EM Physician Wellness. He also co-chairs the Stanford WellMD Physician Wellness Forum. His work focuses on humanizing physician roles as individuals and teams through the harnessing of our individual human potential in the context of high-performance teams. This includes optimizing the interdependence between Process Improvement (Quality and Clinical Operations), Recruitment (Diversity), and Well-being (Inclusion).?

William Lynes, MD

@wlynesmd

William Lynes, MD is a 67-year-old (b 1953) retired Stanford trained physician, urologist, award winning author, speaker on physician burnout, and a survivor of multiple suicide attempts.?His first novel is Pirates, Scoundrels and Kings, a fantasy/adventure work of fiction.?Subsequent medical genre fiction works include the award winning A Surgeon’s Knot, Luger Rounds, 606 University, The Plumber and Huntsville.?His most recent work is Sweet Amber.?He is the father of three grown sons and lives with his wife Patrice in Temecula California.?https://lynesonline.com .

@aaemrsa

The AAEM Resident and Student Association (AAEM/RSA) is an accessible, collaborative organization that fosters innovation, education and advocacy for residents and students in emergency medicine. AAEM/RSA provides resources and opportunities that educate, inspire, and inform emergency medicine trainees. AAEM/RSA also supports and educates residents on the?core tenets of AAEM ,?including the necessity of fair practice environments and the requirement for board certification of all practicing emergency physicians.?

Dr. DeAnna Santana

@forphysician

DeAnna Santana is the Executive Director of the Coalition for Physician Well-Being. In her role, she oversees the operations of the non-profit organization, operationalizes the vision of the board, leads and supports multiple committees, develops partnerships to create research and publication opportunities as well as program development. Programs she has led includes the publication of two books, planning, and deployment of the annual national conference, identifying fundraising and sponsorship opportunities and driving key initiatives that support the mission of the organization in an effort to create brand recognition.

@ZoeC_16

Zoe Cole is a third-year medical student at RUSM. She's had a life-long interest in medicine, and she spent the majority of my pre-medicine years as a volunteer for hospice. She is an advocate for physician wellness and suicide prevention, and she is passionate about mind-body medicine. When she's not immersed in medical school material, you can find her taking a Barre class, practicing mindfulness techniques, or playing with my cat Sophie.?

@jordaneichelser

Jordan Eichelser is a 3rd year medical student at St George’s University. She is currently doing clinicals at Wyckoff Heights in Brooklyn, New York. She has been interested in EM for several years now, originating from when she was a medical scribe in the ED before attending medical school. She is very passionate about physician wellness, as burnout is often not recognized or spoken about frequently. With the COVID pandemic still on the rise, she thinks it is important to recognize and approach this topic very seriously.

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