Questionnaire survey of post-traumatic stress disorder in doctors involved in the Omagh bombing
BMJ 1999; 319 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.319.7225.1609 (Published 18 December 1999) Cite this as: BMJ 1999;319:1609
- Jenny Firth-Cozens, professor of clinical psychology (jenny.firth-cozens@unn.ac.uk)a,
- Simon J Midgley, senior research assistanta,
- Clive Burges, consultant occupational health physicianb
- a See pp 1636, 1648 Centre for Clinical Psychology and Health Care Research, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 7XA
- b Sperrin Lakeland Health and Social Care Trust, Erne Hospital, Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
- Correspondence to: J Firth-Cozens
- Accepted 6 December 1999
On 15 August 1998 a bomb exploded in the main street of Omagh. It killed 29 people, including nine children, and injured over 300. The local hospital, Tyrone County Hospital, took most casualties into its very small accident and emergency department, and others were sent to the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen, 40 miles away. A postal questionnaire study of the health of all staff of Sperrin Lakeland Health and Social Care Trust, which covers both hospitals, took place four months later, and analyses are continuing This paper presents findings on the 41 doctors who replied in terms of their levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Participants, methods, and results
All 115 doctors employed by the trust were sent questionnaires that included a well validated measure of post-traumatic stress disorder,1 which requires particular symptoms to be present and a total score above 6 as an indicator of …