Abstract
BackgroundWe studied the prevalence of common mental disorders among Dutch hospital physicians and investigated whether the presence of a mental disorder was associated with insufficient self-reported work ability.MethodsA questionnaire was sent to all (n = 958) hospital physicians of one academic medical center, using validated scales to assess burnout, work-related fatigue, stress, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression. Furthermore, respondents were asked to rate their current work ability against the work ability in their own best period (adapted version of the first WAI item). The prevalence of each common mental disorder was calculated. In addition, odds ratios of reporting insufficient work ability for subjects with high complaint scores compared to physicians with low complaint scores were calculated for each mental disorder.ResultsThe response rate was 51%, and 423 questionnaires were eligible for analysis. The mental disorder prevalence rates were as follows: work-related fatigue 42%, depression 29%, anxiety 24%, posttraumatic stress complaints 15%, stress complaints 15% and burnout 6%. The mean score for self-reported work ability was 8.1 (range 0–10), and 4% of respondents rated their own work ability as insufficient. Physicians with high mental health complaints were 3.5- for fatigue, 5.6- for PTSD, 7.1- for anxiety, 9.5- for burnout, 10.8- for depression and 13.6-fold for stress more likely to report their work ability as insufficient.ConclusionsThe prevalence of common mental disorders among hospital physicians varied from 6% for burnout to 42% for work-related fatigue. Those physicians with high complaints had significantly 4- to 14 times increased odds of reporting their own work ability as insufficient. This work suggests that to ensure future workers health and patients safety occupational health services should plan appropriate intervention strategies.
Highlights
We studied the prevalence of common mental disorders among Dutch hospital physicians and investigated whether the presence of a mental disorder was associated with insufficient self-reported work ability
From the perspective of occupational health, our findings indicate that more attention should be given to the mental health of hospital physicians to ensure patient safety
The prevalence of common mental disorders among hospital physicians varied from 6% for burnout to 42% for work-related fatigue
Summary
We studied the prevalence of common mental disorders among Dutch hospital physicians and investigated whether the presence of a mental disorder was associated with insufficient self-reported work ability. Due to the aging society, the number of patients and the number of chronic diseases will increase and, subsequently, so will the required care and number of hospital physicians. A great exodus of physicians will take place as many reach their retirement age [2]. To keep health care availability at the desired level, it is important to keep hospital physicians. Work-related fatigue has been associated with increased sick leave [3]. A more severe form of fatigue is burnout As another aspect of physicians’ psychological health, burnout increases the occurrence of sickness and absenteeism, and it is an example of a mental disorder that occurs in physicians, as reviewed in Sanderson and Andrews [4] and De Valk and Werner [5]
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