"impaired doctors"

For doctors with mental health or substance use disorders, publication of their name and sensitive medical history in disciplinary decisions may adversely impact their health and may reinforce barriers to accessing early support and treatment. This article challenges the view that naming impaired doctors or disclosing the intimate details of their medical condition in disciplinary decisions always serves the public interest in open justice. We analysed and compared the approach of Australian and New Zealand health tribunals to granting orders that suppress the name and/or medical history of impaired doctors...

OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to explore the factors influencing the spatial cognition of the visually impaired in familiar environments. BACKGROUND: Massage hospitals are some of the few places that can provide work for the visually impaired in China. Studying the spatial cognition of the visually impaired in a massage hospital could be instructive for the design of working environments for the visually impaired and other workplaces in the future. METHODS: First, the subjective spatial cognition of the visually impaired was evaluated by object layout tasks for describing the spatial relationships among object parts...

Doctors' mental wellbeing is a critical public health issue. Rates of depression, anxiety, and substance use are higher than in the general population. Regulating unwell doctors who pose a public risk is challenging, yet there is little research into how medical regulators balance the need to protect the public from harm against the benefits of supporting and rehabilitating the unwell doctor. We analysed judgments from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom, Ontario, and Singapore between 2010 and 2020 relating to impaired doctors...

When poor mental health impairs a doctor's ability to safely practise medicine, poor patient outcomes can result. Medical regulators play a critical role in protecting the public from impaired doctors, by requiring monitoring and treatment. However, regulatory processes may paradoxically harm doctors, with potential adverse implications for the community. There is little prior research examining the experiences of doctors with prior mental health or substance use challenges who are subject to regulatory notifications and processes relating to their health...

This study examined whether patients' negative metastereotypes undermine their perception of doctor-patient relations through raising their intergroup anxiety and decreasing their trust level. One hundred twenty-four outpatients from a Chinese hospital participated in this study; they were randomly assigned to either the negative metastereotype activation (NMSA) or the non-NMSA condition according to different instructions. Then, they were asked to complete the Intergroup Anxiety, Patient Trust, and Doctor-Patient Relations Scale...

Background: Noise exposure in hospitals can negatively impact both patients and doctors. It can make patients feel more anxious or depressive and can impair doctors' concentration or judgment, potentially leading to poor decision-making or performance. In China, an increasing number of outpatient operating rooms have emerged in recent years for the convenience of patients planning to undergo minor surgery. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of noise exposure in the outpatient operating room and ways to deal with it...

This article examines the place of spirituality in medical education, with special reference to primary care. It highlights evidence of current discrepancies and problems with spiritual care in general practice, demonstrating that GPs do not have a common approach or set of competencies. The authors illuminate the fact that medical education teaches spirituality sporadically and largely through optional and non-embedded learning. This and the general paradigm and culture of medical education may actually impair doctors' ability to understand spirituality and integrate this in practice...

Prolonged seizures and status epilepticus (SE) are relevant problems in palliative care. Timely recognition and effective early treatment with first- and second-line antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) may prevent unnecessary hospitalizations. Seizures should be recognized and addressed like any other symptom that causes discomfort or reduces quality of life. Use of alternative AED administration routes (buccal, intranasal, or subcutaneous) may offer possibilities for effective and individualized AED therapy, even during the last days of life...

This article reports and updates a study that analysed protective orders in medical disciplinary tribunals over a three-year period. It argues that the concept of the protection of the public has been undermined by protective orders that focus on the rehabilitation of problem and impaired doctors in the management of risk. The article posits a medical or psychiatric model of misconduct in which misconduct is seen in terms of illness, rather than attracting negative moral judgment and severe disciplinary sanctions...

Women with epilepsy need to continue to take anticonvulsants during their pregnancies to prevent seizures from occurring. Since the 1980's, it has been known that the use of valproate (an anticonvulsant) in the first trimester of pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of spina bifida. Recent studies have also demonstrated increased risks of other congenital anomalies as well as a risk of cognitive impairment. Doctors in the EU are now advised not to prescribe valproate in pregnant women, in women who can become pregnant or in girls unless other treatments are ineffective or not tolerated...

INTRODUCTION In New Zealand, 41% of general practitioners (GPs) intend to retire by 2025. Increasing workforce shortages and other stressors are putting doctors at risk of burnout, which in turn can put patients at risk of harm. Offering a range of resources can signal an organisation's commitment to physician wellness while improving patient safety and organisational stability. AIM To replace the current reactive approach to impaired doctors with a proactive system of monitoring performance with the goal of identifying problems early...

BACKGROUND: Physicians are not immune to cognitive impairment. Because of the risks created by practising doctors with these issues, some have suggested developing objective, population-specific measures of evaluation and screening guidelines to assess dysfunction. However, there is very little published information from which to construct such resources. AIMS: To highlight the presentation characteristics and provide evaluation recommendations specific to the needs of physicians with actual or presumed cognitive impairment...

BACKGROUND: Accurate health information exchange (HIE) is pivotal for good quality of care. However, patients with intellectual disabilities (ID) face challenges in processing and exchanging health information around GP consultations. Knowledge of HIE barriers and facilitators, including the roles of carers, may help to improve GP care for people with ID. OBJECTIVE: To gain more insight into HIE barriers and facilitators for ID patients in GP care. METHODS: A qualitative study exploring GP consultation experiences of people with ID (n = 35), professional carers (n = 20) and relatives (n = 15)...

When revising the former somatoform diagnoses to somatic symptom disorders, DSM-5 introduced psychological classification criteria in addition to somatic symptoms. The authors investigated the relevance of these and further cognitive, affective, and behavioral features as well as their predictive value concerning (a) somatic symptoms that are not better explained by a general medical condition (MUS) and somatoform disorders (SD), (b) impairment, and (c) health care utilization. A general population sample of 321 participants (M = 47...

OBJECTIVE: To explore rheumatologists' perceptions of patient decision aids (PtDAs) and identify barriers to using them in clinical practice. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey of all members of the Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA; n = 459) was conducted. We subsequently invited 10 respondents to participate in a 30-minute telephone interview to further explore their views on using PtDAs in clinical practice. Interview participants were purposefully sampled to achieve a balance in sex, years in clinical practice, and types of practice...

Mandatory reporting of impaired doctors is compulsory in Australasia. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency guidelines for notification claim high benchmark though the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians suggest they still obstruct doctors seeking help. Western Australia excludes mandatory reporting of practitioner-patients. This study examines reporting, consequences and international experiences with notification. Depressed doctors avoid diagnosis and treatment, fearing consequences, yet are more prone to marital problems, substance dependence and needing psychotherapy...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

This article examines the regulation of impaired doctors in Australia and explores the inherent tensions in the new Health Practitioner Regulation National Law in attempting to both treat the doctor and protect the public. It discusses both informal and formal mechanisms of regulation with particular reference to therapeutic jurisprudence and mandatory notification. It focuses particularly on New South Wales and examines all the impairment cases which resulted in disciplinary proceedings in the Medical Tribunal of New South Wales in 2010...

This article deals with the question "What should you do when you suspect that a colleague's ability to practice medicine has become impaired?" The scope of the problem is now known, and the medical profession's response has been to organize provincial committees to help the impaired doctor. Several patterns suggesting impairment are summarized in this article. An affirmative response is needed; suggestions as to how one may respond are outlined.

AIMS: In January 2006 the Medical Protection Society (MPS) and Medical Assurance Society (MAS) commenced a jointly funded counselling service for stressed doctors in New Zealand. Stressed and impaired doctors may impact negatively on patient care. This study aims to investigate the service's utilisation, acceptability, and utility, and to consider whether the service may improve the delivery of health services. METHOD: Psychologist or psychiatrist providers of the service between January 2006 and July 2008 were asked to anonymously complete a questionnaire about the service...