Published 7 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2161
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2161

Editorials

Doctors’ health

Healthy doctors—healthy practice

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

Four linked studies from three countries look at the health of doctors (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2004; doi:10.1136/bmj.a2155; doi:10.1136/bmj.a2038; doi:10.1136/bmj.a2098). Their publication coincides with the International Conference on Doctors’ Health that takes place in November in London.¹ Frank and colleagues report on medical students’ use of alcohol and counselling of patients regarding alcohol in the United States.² Isaksson Rø and colleagues find a reduction in burnout in Norwegian doctors’ after a counselling intervention,³ and McLellan and colleagues present outcomes from doctors monitored for substance use disorders by 16 US state physician health programmes.⁴ Brewster and colleagues report outcomes for substance dependent doctors monitored by such a programme in Ontario, Canada.⁵ All of the papers, in one way or another, reflect a concern with the association between doctors’ health and their medical practice.

The treatment of sick doctors has a history of association with a reduction in . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M7, Canada

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Macdonald, H., Stewart, H., Hall, A., Fehilly, K. (2008). Researching students' wellbeing. BMJ 337: a2799-a2799 [Full text]  
• Manning, C. L (2008). Treating doctors' distress. BMJ 337: a2810-a2810 [Full text]  

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