C.Y. Moutier is chief medical officer, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, New York, New York; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3826-7160 .
M.F. Myers is professor of clinical psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2335-2936 .
Acad Med. 2021 May 1;96(5):624-628. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003972.
In this commentary, the authors offer a call to action in the long-standing fight to prevent clinicians from dying by suicide. In April 2020, the nation was shocked by the suicide of New York City emergency physician Dr. Lorna Breen, who died while recovering from COVID-19. She joins an unknown number of clinicians who have taken their lives over the past year. The authors introduce Dr. Breen, a highly talented physician working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and examine how pervasive distress and suicide are in clinicians. Then, they explain the lived experience movement and highlight how clinicians speaking openly about their mental illness and treatment are making it easier for their colleagues to seek lifesaving help, despite the stigma still surrounding mental illness and treatment in medicine. The authors sort through the science of clinician distress; critique how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the lives of clinicians; and describe existing national initiatives to address clinician stress, burnout, and suicide. Finally, they recommend evidence-based actions to prevent clinician suicide that multiple stakeholder groups can take, including regulatory agencies, licensing boards, and hospital privileging boards; specialty boards, professional associations, and continuing education organizations; medical educators; and individual clinicians. Suicide is a complex but generally preventable cause of death. Those in medicine must forge ahead with collective momentum. Dr. Breen, so many other clinicians, and those they have left behind deserve nothing less.
在这篇评论中，作者呼吁采取行动，长期以来一直在努力防止临床医生因自杀而死亡。2020 年 4 月，纽约市急诊医生洛娜·布林（Lorna Breen）自杀身亡，震惊了全国。她是过去一年中自杀的众多临床医生之一。作者介绍了 Breen 医生，一位在 COVID-19 大流行前线工作的才华横溢的医生，并探讨了临床医生中普遍存在的痛苦和自杀现象。然后，他们解释了“亲身体验”运动，并强调了临床医生公开谈论自己的精神疾病和治疗方法，使同事们更容易获得拯救生命的帮助，尽管医学领域对精神疾病和治疗的污名仍然存在。作者梳理了临床医生痛苦的科学；批评了 COVID-19 大流行如何影响临床医生的生活；并描述了现有的国家倡议，以解决临床医生的压力、倦怠和自杀问题。最后，他们建议采取多种利益相关者群体都可以采取的循证行动，以预防临床医生自杀，包括监管机构、许可委员会和医院特权委员会；专业委员会、专业协会和继续教育组织；医学教育者；以及个体临床医生。自杀是一种复杂但通常可以预防的死亡原因。医学领域的人必须继续保持集体动力。布林医生、许多其他临床医生以及他们留下的人都应得到更好的待遇。
