Doctors as stressed as patients

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

CHRISTCHURCH - More than a tenth of surgeons are under significant psychological stress and over a quarter are suffering high levels of psychological symptoms.

Wellington Medical School researchers found in a study of nearly 1200 health workers that they were on average at least as stressed as their patients, and possibly more stressed. The figures were revealed at the annual conference of the College of General Practitioners yesterday.

On a 12-question test including topics like feeling constantly under strain, losing sleep over worry and feelings of worthlessness, 10 per cent of GPs scored over eight, the level considered significant psychological stress. Over 12 per cent of surgeons and medical specialists were in that group, and 11 per cent of pharmacists.

Forty-one per cent of pharmacists scored over four - considered high levels of psychological symptoms - along with 31 per cent of GPs and medical specialists and 28 per cent of surgeons.

But despite the potentially alarming findings, one of the researchers, Professor Tony Dowell, of the medical school, said they did not mean patients were at risk.

Doctors, and probably pharmacists too, were trained to cope with relatively high levels of pressure, he said, adding that the system generally functioned well although some cases of medical misadventure were "undoubtedly due to high stress levels."

"I don't think that these kinds of levels indicate that the public or patients are at any more risk than they were in any other time or ... than people in Australia, the UK or North America, or in medicine than in aviation or law; government or economic management."

He acknowledged, however, that the stakes were higher with doctor or pilot error than with many other workers.

Another study, which was not yet finished, had identified one of the main causes of stress among GPs as the high levels of red tape that they had to deal with, particularly from accident compensation claims and the Health Funding Authority.

The stress-level findings were similar to those among health workers overseas, Professor Dowell said.

"But in other countries when these figures have been released they have been taken notice of and people have recognised that there is significant stress in the health sector and various measures have been undertaken to address it."