Mental health of applicants seems to be deteriorating

doi:10.1136/bmj.39254.905764.1F

BMJ 2007;334:1335 (30 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39254.905764.1F

Letters

MTAS

Mental health of applicants seems to be deteriorating

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

We are surveying the impact of Modernising Medical Careers (MMC)and the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) on the mentalwellbeing of junior doctors.¹ The preliminary results from the790 online anonymous responses to date are disturbing and requirean urgent response.

Overall, 395 (50%) respondents were women, 636 (80%) held UK/EEApassports, and 527 (67%) were aged 25-29.

Most worryingly, 165 (21%; 95% confidence interval 18% to 24%)respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: "Ihave been having more thoughts of ending my life than usual"—anincreased level of suicidal risk in an already vulnerable professionalgroup.²

Most trainees (740, 94%) admitted to higher than usual stresslevels over the past six months, 759 (96%) attributing it toMTAS/MMC compared with 411 (52%) attributing it to financialproblems.

Respondents agreed, or strongly agreed, with disturbances intheir sleep (523, 66%), appetite (330, 42%), and energy levels(571, . . . [Full text of this article]

Gregory J Lydall, locum staff grade in addictions¹, Amit Malik, chair, psychiatric trainees committee², Dinesh Bhugra, dean²

¹ Ware, Hertfordshire SG12 9DZ, ² Royal College of Psychiatrists, London SW1X 8PG

grogl@doctors.org.uk

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Article

The future of specialist training: Fiona Godlee
BMJ 2007 334: 1067-1068. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Dover, D., Beveridge, E., Leavey, G., King, M. (2009). Personal psychotherapy in psychiatric training: study of four London training schemes. Psychiatr. Bull. 33: 433-436 [Abstract] [Full text]
Cappuccio, F. P., Bakewell, A., Taggart, F. M., Ward, G., Ji, C., Sullivan, J. P., Edmunds, M., Pounder, R., Landrigan, C. P., Lockley, S. W., Peile, E., on behalf of the Warwick EWTD Working Group, (2009). Implementing a 48 h EWTD-compliant rota for junior doctors in the UK does not compromise patients' safety: assessor-blind pilot comparison. QJM 102: 271-282 [Abstract] [Full text]
Lydall, G. J., Malik, A., Blizard, R., Bhugra, D. (2009). Psychological Impact of Systemic Training Failure On Mental Health and Career Satisfaction of UK Trainees: Lessons From an Online Attitudes Survey. Int J Soc Psychiatry 55: 180-190 [Abstract]
Jauhar, S., Bartos, M., Hacker, T., Srireddy, P. (2008). Can trainees contribute to recruitment into specialty training?. Psychiatr. Bull. 32: 470-472 [Abstract] [Full text]
Whelan, P., Meerten, M., Rao, R., Jarrett, P., Muthukumaraswamy, A., Bhugra, D. (2008). Stress, lies and red tape: the views, success rates and stress levels of the MTAS cohort. JRSM 101: 313-318 [Abstract] [Full text]
Whelan, P., Jarrett, P., Meerten, M., Forster, K., Bhugra, D. (2007). MTAS fiasco: lessons for psychiatry. Psychiatr. Bull. 31: 425-427 [Abstract] [Full text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

I am on the verge of losing my house: Ken Simons
bmj.com, 29 Jun 2007 [Full text]
Alarmingly disturbing: Ayodeji K Afelumo
bmj.com, 1 Jul 2007 [Full text]
Stress in doctors: complex causes or not?: Graeme Mackenzie
bmj.com, 2 Jul 2007 [Full text]
resilience is what is needed: lakshmiprabha ramasubramanian
bmj.com, 2 Jul 2007 [Full text]
Psychological support for doctors in wake of MTAS: julia l bland
bmj.com, 3 Jul 2007 [Full text]
Depressed, anxious and stressed....and that's the psychiatrist!: Dola Okusi, et al.
bmj.com, 4 Jul 2007 [Full text]
MTAS - Educational opportunity?: David G Connell
bmj.com, 5 Jul 2007 [Full text]
Someone does listen: Christopher JH Williams
bmj.com, 9 Jul 2007 [Full text]