Showing posts with label depression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label depression. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017 -- photos and all links removed as many no longer active.

Dr. Sumer, Sumer's Radiology Site, is the host for this week’s Grand Rounds. You can read this week’s edition here.
For people who are new to this concept "Grand Rounds is a weekly summary of the best health blog posts on the Internet. Each week a different blogger takes turns hosting Grand Rounds, and summarizing the best submissions for the week. The schedule for Grand Rounds is available at the Better Health Blog and at Blogborygmi.com. Both Dr. Val Jones and Dr. Nick Genes coordinate the schedule for Grand Rounds.” For people who are new to this concept "Grand Rounds is a weekly summary of the best health blog posts on the Internet. Each week a different blogger takes turns hosting Grand Rounds, and summarizing the best submissions for the week. The schedule for Grand Rounds is available at the Better Health Blog and at Blogborygmi.com. Both Dr. Val Jones and Dr. Nick Genes coordinate the schedule for Grand Rounds.” .............
My suggestion- we should all share each edition of grand rounds on our facebook pages as well as our blogs for more viewership. My thanks to all those who submitted to this edition and Grand Rounds Surely Rock. ………….
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H/T to @SeattleMamaDoc for tweeting about this NY Times Health article: Well Blog: Doctor and Patient: From Needle Stick to Hepatitis Cure
As doctors-in-training in the early 1990s, my friends and I became obsessed with the question of what we would do if we were pricked with an infected needle at work. We all had witnessed the inexorable, often painful march toward death of patients with hepatitis C and AIDS. We imagined the despair we would feel in that situation: the dashed hopes, the lost years of schooling and training. Many of us saw ourselves walking out of the hospital and not looking back. We couldn’t imagine throwing ourselves back into the fray.
We had not met Dr. Douglas Dieterich. …..
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I agree with @jordangrumet who tweeted: Bummer! on.wsj.com/ra3DTa The Vocal Cord Injury Affecting Adele
The Grammy-winning singer Adele has canceled a series of U.S. tour dates due to a vocal-cord hemorrhage.
As she wrote on her blog this week, she was first diagnosed with a hemorrhage in May, then rested and recovered. But recently, she was diagnosed with another hemorrhage. “My voice yet again went … it just switched off,” she wrote.
That sort of “instantaneous hoarseness” is typical of hemorrhages of the vocal cords, which are also called vocal folds, says Kenneth Altman, an associate professor of otolaryngology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. …..
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H/T to @doc_rob for the link to this “Great video about depression.” If you have depression, please, get help.




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This Reuters new articles reminds us that “Many cancer survivors struggle with trauma stress: study”
A cancer diagnosis can leave lasting psychological scars akin to those inflicted by war, with the impact in some cases lasting for years, U.S. researchers found in a study.
More than a decade after being told they had the disease, nearly four out of 10 cancer survivors said they were still plagued by symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD ……………SOURCE: bit.ly/n1pJMg
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H/T to @GregSmithMD for the link to this “Beautiful post about things that heal.” -- Stop And Smell The Roses
Even though the title is cliche and many of us hear it from time to time, I am going to guess that the majority of us don't actually do it. I know I don't or at least I haven't in the past. ……….
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From @Berci. --- Picture of the Month: Left brain-right brain (photo credit)
This is one of the best pictures I’ve ever seen. I’m almost totally a left brain… What about you?

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Some of my nephew-in-law @eleonfreeman’s paintings will be included in the upcoming art exhibit at the Boswell-Mourot in Miami. Exhibit opening is November 5, 2011.
Including this lovely one: Treasure Reef" by Eric Leon Freeman (2011) Oil on Linen, 48" x 72"

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Surgeons and Suicide Ideation

Updated 3/2017-- all links removed as many are no longer active and it was easier than checking each one.

There is a new article on surgeons and the risk of suicide in the January issue of Archives of Surgery (full reference below).
The Kansas City Star’s new article on the study includes this from a colleague who was a plastic surgeon here in Little Rock when I went into practice.  He left his surgical practice a few years ago, retrained and is now in hospice care at the local VA. (photo credit)
Dr. Robert Lehmberg, 63, said it took prodding from close friends to finally get him to seek treatment for depression and suicidal thoughts several years ago. Though he feared losing his license and being stigmatized, neither happened, and he said medication and psychotherapy have greatly helped.
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The article notes suicidal ideation (SI) among individuals 45 years and older is 1.5 to 3.0 times more common among surgeons than the general population (P < .02).
This study was commissioned by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Physician Competency and Health.  It used an anonymous cross-sectional survey in June 2008. The survey included questions regarding suicidal ideation (SI) and use of mental health resources, a validated depression screening tool, and standardized assessments of burnout and quality of life.
There was a response rate of only 31.7% which resulted in 7905 participating surgeons.  Of these, 501 (6.3%) reported SI during the previous 12 months.
 Only 26% (130/501) of the surgeons with recent SI had sought psychiatric or psychologic help.  More than half [301 (60.1%)] reported the same reluctant to seek help due to concern that it could affect their medical license as Dr. Lehmberg mentions above. 
Burnout with all 3 domains of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment), depression, and  report of a recent medical error were independently associated with SI even after controlling for personal and professional characteristics.
The authors conclude:
Although 1 of 16 surgeons reported SI in the previous year, few sought psychiatric or psychologic help. Recent SI among surgeons was strongly related to symptoms of depression and a surgeon's degree of burnout. Studies are needed to determine how to reduce SI among surgeons and how to eliminate barriers to their use of mental health resources.

Related posts:
Doctors with Depression (September 24, 2008)
Stress and Burnout Among Surgeons – an Article Review (April 22, 2009)
Doctors With Depression (September 24, 2009)

REFERENCE
Special Report: Suicidal Ideation Among American Surgeons; Tait D. Shanafelt; Charles M. Balch; Lotte Dyrbye; Gerald Bechamps; Tom Russell; Daniel Satele; Teresa Rummans; Karen Swartz; Paul J. Novotny; Jeff Sloan; Michael R. Oreskovich; Arch Surg. 2011;146(1):54-62.