Physicians as Humans First: Helping Prevent Physician Suicide

In a recent cohort study, female physicians had a significantly higher suicide incidence per 100 000 person-years than the female general population in 2017 and 2019, with overall higher 2017 to 2021 suicide incidence. Hirsh Makhija, MS, who was a volunteer in the study, discusses mitigating risk of suicide while still ensuring adequate treatment for other comorbid conditions.

One of the major findings was that physicians dying by suicide were older, and thus had more physical health problems, such as diabetes or cardiovascular issues. Additionally, physicians have increased access to opiates and potentially lethal drugs, which need to be monitored.

"Physicians are human," said Makhija. "They are not immune to illnesss. High rates of burnout, high rates of depression, high rates of physical health issues are common. Unfortunately, physicians are less likely to get treatment for all of these condition."

Makhija recommends peer-to-peer support to help prevent suicide and other issues.

Mr Makhija is a postgraduate researcher at the UC San Diego School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry.