Interventions to improve physicians' well-being and patient care: a commentary.
Dr. Firth-Cozens begins her paper by reviewing a broad range of research related to physicians' stress, depression, and alcoholism (Firth-Cozens, 2001, Social Science and Medicine, 52, 215-222). She then argues that these psychological problems have a negative impact on patient care and describes the possible causes of these problems. Finally, she proposes a system of organizational and individual interventions to address these problems. Before accepting her conclusions and proposed system of interventions, an important issue should be considered. Is physicians' well-being an important goal in and of itself, or do we need strong evidence that physician stress, depression, and alcoholism lead to poor patient care and outcomes?
Gerrity
M S
MS
Department of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 97201-3098, USA.
D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control; D014481:United States