Helping sick doctors

BMJ 1996;312:1675 (29 June)

Letters

Helping sick doctors

Stress management interventions need to be evaluated

EDITOR,--In their editorial on helping sick doctors Ruth Chambersand Richard Maxwell conclude, "If the job is making the doctorssick, why not fix the job rather than the doctors?"¹ It is notonly among doctors that stress has been addressed primarilyas a health problem rather than as an organisational problem.Stress management in other professions has similarly emphasisedindividual health based interventions to deal with the symptomsrather than attempting to modify factors that induce stressin the workplace.² Fortunately, research has now begun to addressthe problem from an organisational perspective. For example,the BMA is currently funding a hospital based project in themidlands. This study uses a risk assessment-risk managementparadigm and aims to produce organisational change through auditof stress (M Macafee, University of Nottingham, personal communication).