Useful Resources

Readers may share additional links, articles and websites of interest with other readers by emailing them to Andrée at andree.rochfort@icgp.ie

Doctors' Health, Doctors as Patients & Doctoring Doctors

• A study of self-care among Irish doctors. Ir Med J 1998
• Anger in the Medical Profession, Dr Mel Fullam, Irishhealth.com
• Doctors as patients: postal survey examining consultants' and general practitioners' adherence to guidelines. BMJ 1999
• Challenge of culture, conscience, and contract to general practitioners' care of their own health: qualitative study. BMJ 2001
• Mentoring in General Practice, Alliott R. BMJ 1996;classified supplement: 28 September. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/313/7060/S2-7060
• Challenge of culture, conscience, and contract to general practitioners' care of their own health: qualitative study. BMJ 2001
• A survey of job satisfaction, sources of stress and psychological symptoms among general practitioners in Leeds. Br J Gen Pract 1998
• Emotional distress in doctors: sources, effects and help sought. J R Soc Med 1992
• Stress and morale in general practice: a comparison of two health care systems. Br J Gen Pract 1998
• Doctors as patients: postal survey examining consultants' and general practitioners' adherence to guidelines. BMJ 1999
• Communication, stress and distress: evolution of an individual support programme for medical students and doctors: MEDICAL EDUCATION 2005; 39: 476-481.
• Manifesto of Barcelona: Produced by consensus in the 1st European Meeting PAIMM 2001 by expert participants about Care Programmes in Europe for Health Professionals with Mental Health Disorders and Addictive Behaviours. Held in Barcelona. November, the 8th 2001. Organised by PAIMM (Integral Care Programme for Sick Physicians).
• Schneider M, Bouvier Gallacchi M, Goehring C, Künzi B, Bovier PA. Personal use of medical care and drugs among Swiss primary care physicians. SWISS MED WKLY 2007;137:121-126 [http://www.smw.ch/docs/archive200x/2007/07/smw-11606.html]

Health & Safety

• Ward SJ. Improving quality in hospital induction programmes. BMJ 1998;Classified suppl:21 Feb
  http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/316/7142/S3c-7142

Healthcare Services & Support Systems for Doctors

• Mentoring in General Practice, Alliott R. BMJ 1996; classified suppl.: 28 September.
  http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/313/7060/S2-7060

Humour and Health

• Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study. BMJ 2008;337:a2338.
• Some memorable quotations on the WONCA website.
• Humor and laughter may influence health. I. History and background. Evidence Based Complement Alternative Med. 2006 Mar;3(1):61-3. Epub 2006 Jan 16. Free full text article on PMC.
• The effect of mirthful laughter on stress and natural killer cell activity. Alternative Therapies in Health Med. 2003 Mar-Apr;9(2):38-45.
• Psychologic stress increases plasma levels of prolactin, cortisol, and POMC-derived peptides in man. Psychosomatic Med. 1988 May-Jun;50(3):295-303.
• Humor and Laughter May Influence Health IV. Humor and Immune Function. Evidence Based Complement Alternative Med. 2007 Dec 5. [Epub ahead of print]
• Humor and Laughter May Influence Health: III. Laughter and Health Outcomes. Evidence Based Complement Alternative Med. 2008 Mar;5(1):37-40.
• Modulation of neuroimmune parameters during the eustress of humor-associated mirthful laughter. Alternative Therapies in Health Med. 2001 Mar;7(2):62-72, 74-6.
• Humor, laughter, and physical health: methodological issues and research findings. Psychol. Bull. 2001 Jul;127(4):504-19. Review.
• Humor and laughter in palliative care: an ethnographic investigation. Palliative Support Care. 2004 Jun;2(2):139-48.

Mental Health Problems & Addictive Disorders

• Goehring C, Bouvier M, Künzi B, Bovier P. Psychosocial and professional characteristics of burnout in Swiss primary care practitioners: a cross-sectional survey. SWISS MED WKLY 2005;135:101-108 [http://www.smw.ch/docs/pdf200x/2005/07/smw-10841.pdf]
• Sebo P, Bouvier Gallacchi M, Goehring C, Künzi B, Bovier PA. Use of tobacco and alcohol by Swiss primary care physicians: a cross-sectional survey. BMC Public Health 2007;7:5 [http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/5]
• B. Künzi, P. Bovier, Goehring C et al. Predictors of physician burnout in random and convenience (QI) samples. European Workshop on Handling Concerns about the Performance of Doctors: Sharing International Experience. National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS). London, 9 June 2005
• Künzi B, Bovier P, Oswald W. Prevention, Prediction and Detection of GP-Burnout. Practical hints from a national research and counselling project. EQuiP-Workshop, WONCA-Europe Conference, Amsterdam 2004
• A survey of job satisfaction, sources of stress and psychological symptoms among general practitioners in Leeds. Br J Gen Pract 1998
• Emotional distress in doctors: sources, effects and help sought. J R Soc Med 1992
• Stress and morale in general practice: a comparison of two health care systems. Br J Gen Pract 1998

Mortality Rates and Causes in Doctors

• Mortality rates and causes among US physicians: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=11020591&dopt=Abstract
• Suicide compared to other causes of mortality in physicians: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15843332&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_DocSum
• Mortality of doctors in different specialties: findings from a cohort of 20000 NHS hospital consultants: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=9245944
• Suicide in doctors: a study of risk according to gender, seniority and specialty in medical practitioners in England and Wales, 1979-1995: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=11297646
• Suicide mortality among medical doctors in Finland: are females more prone to suicide than their male colleagues?: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=9300526
• A systematic review on gender-specific suicide mortality in medical doctors: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=8833679
• Suicide rates from 1960 to 1989 in Norwegian physicians compared with other educational groups: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=11144782
• Mortality and causes of death among Danish medical doctors 1973-1992: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=10405848

Support Groups for Doctors and Doctors' Families

• Aware: Helping to defeat depression - http://www.aware.ie/
• OCD Ireland: A support group for sufferers and families of those with obsessive compulsive disorder - http://www.ocdireland.org/
• Samaritans: Confidential emotional support 24hrs a day by telephone - http://www.samaritans.org/talk_to_someone/find_my_local_branch/ireland.aspx