Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Oct 16;7(10):e018023.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018023.

What's up doc? A national cross-sectional study of psychological wellbeing of hospital doctors in Ireland

Blánaid Hayes  1   2 , Lucia Prihodova  2 , Gillian Walsh  2 , Frank Doyle  3 , Sally Doherty  3
Affiliations

What's up doc? A national cross-sectional study of psychological wellbeing of hospital doctors in Ireland

Blánaid Hayes et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: To measure levels of psychological distress, psychological wellbeing and self-stigma in hospital doctors in Ireland.

Design: National cross-sectional study of randomised sample of hospital doctors. Participants provided sociodemographic data (age, sex, marital status), work grade (consultant, higher/basic specialist trainee), specialty and work hours and completed well-being questionnaires (the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, WHO Well-being Index, General Health Questionnaire) and single-item scales on self-rated health and self-stigma.

Setting: Irish publicly funded hospitals and residential institutions.

Participants: 1749 doctors (response rate of 55%). All hospital specialties were represented except radiology.

Results: Half of participants were men (50.5%). Mean hours worked per week were 57 hours. Over half (52%) rated their health as very good/excellent, while 50.5% reported positive subjective well-being (WHO-5). Over a third (35%) experienced psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire 12). Severe/extremely severe symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress were evident in 7.2%, 6.1% and 9.5% of participants (Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale 21). Symptoms of distress, depression, anxiety and stress were significantly higher and levels of well-being were significantly lower in trainees compared with consultants, and this was not accounted for by differences in sociodemographic variables. Self-stigma was present in 68.4%.

Conclusions: The work hours of doctors working in Irish hospitals were in excess of European Working Time Directive's requirements. Just over half of hospital doctors in Ireland had positive well-being. Compared with international evidence, they had higher levels of psychological distress but slightly lower symptoms of depression and anxiety. Two-thirds of respondents reported self-stigma, which is likely to be a barrier to accessing care. These findings have implications for the design of support services for doctors, for discussions on quality of patient care and for future research.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; doctor; psychological distress; self-stigma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

References

    1. Castlen JP, Cote DJ, Moojen WA, et al. . The changing healthcare landscape and implications of organizational ethics on modern medical practice. World Neurosurgery 2017;1. - PubMed
    1. RCPI. National clinical programmes dublin. https://www.rcpi.ie/national-clinical-programmes/
    1. Tsugawa Y, Jha AK, Newhouse JP, et al. . Variation in physician spending and association with patient outcomes. JAMA Intern Med 2017;177:675 10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.0059 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arnetz BB. Psychosocial challenges facing physicians of today. Soc Sci Med 2001;52:203–13. 10.1016/S0277-9536(00)00220-3 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Thomas S, Burke S, Barry S. The Irish health-care system and austerity: sharing the pain. Lancet 2014;383:1545–6. 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60744-3 - DOI - PubMed