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AFSP, Mayo Clinic, ACGME launch initiative to prevent physician suicide

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Mayo Clinic recently launched an initiative to prevent physician and medical trainee suicide.

“Physician well-being is crucial to the health of our entire system of medical care,” Fredric Meyer, MD, executive dean of education at Mayo Clinic, said in a press release. “For the welfare of patients and the next generation of physicians, the nation’s providers of medical education must strive to cultivate an environment that promotes both stress management and resilience.”

At the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)’s second Symposium on Physician Well-being, the organizations introduced a collection of educational resources on the ACGME website.

“We want to be part of a national dialogue that addresses physician well-being and leads to transformational change — to a more humane learning environment for all medical education and a healthier culture for all physicians,” Thomas J. Nasca, MD, MACP, CEO of the ACGME, said in the release.

Resources include:

• A 4-minute video advising medical students, residents and fellows on supporting each other, expressing concern to peers and encouraging help-seeking;
• A guide on how to respond to a resident death by suicide for graduate training programs; and
• Additional information and access to support.

“Taking care of your mental health is the strong and smart thing to do,” Christine Moutier, MD, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said in the release. “Consider it a best practice for physicians and medical trainees. Addressing our own risk in the physician community is an important step toward addressing suicide at the public health level. If physicians begin modeling proactive mental health behaviors, it will send a strong message to all of society.”

For more information:

To access these resources, visit http://www.acgme.org/What-We-Do/Initiatives/Physician-Well-Being/Resources.