SUPPORT 24/7 - HERE FOR YOU ALWAYS
There are multiple pathways, resources and online supports that doctors and medical students can access for any level of support they need at the time.
You may notice a colleague struggling, or their behaviour has changed over time, or you feel you want to reach out to them but do not know how.
Not knowing what to say to someone is very common.
When you are all working long hours, you are in a high performing profession, you are there for others all the time it is difficult to approach a colleague about their own wellbeing.
Your first port of call is your local doctors' health service. They live and breathe doctors and medical students health and wellbeing and understand the whole journey of your professional medical life. They are supporting people just like you everyday. All calls are confidential and you can remain anonymous.
Each doctors' health service phone number is listed on the home page of this website - there is one in every state and territory of Australia. Their websites are:
Victorian Doctors' Health Program
Doctors' Health Advisory Service Western Australia
The other service we encourage you to connect with is your own medical indemnity organisation, they are also there for you particularly around medico-legal matters but can also answer a range of other questions relating to workplace issues and practice matters.
Checking in on colleagues
Checking in on colleagues is a vital skill. While we should not treat colleagues in a corridor consultation, we need to remember that when a colleague seems to be struggling, there may be a health issue. Checking in as a caring colleague and even supporting them to access the care they need can help our colleagues conquer the barriers to health access.
This video was made by a medical student to enable us to reflect on what it is really like to work as a doctor and how the kindness of colleagues can make a huge difference in people’s lives.
Looking after colleagues - be a doctor for doctors
If you are a GP, psychiatrist or clinical psychologist with an interest in doctors’ health and you are able to prioritise appointments for doctors and medical students, we would like to hear from you. There is a network of GPs who support their colleagues by being a doctor for other doctors.
If you are interested in being a doctor for other NSW doctors please contact us.
Join the list of RANZCP psychiatrists interested in looking after their colleagues
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists offers a list of specialists with experience in treating doctors, psychiatrists and medical students.
To find out more contact RANZCP
A healthy medical profession - caring for ourselves and our colleagues
This is a two hour training module developed to support doctors to learn more about doctors’ health. This includes a series of modules that discuss:
- Understanding self-care
- Accessing healthcare
- Learning to be a doctor-patient
- Training to be a doctor for a doctor
The interactive module is designed for busy doctors and it is possible to stop and start the module in your own time. If you register with your name, at the end of the module there is a certificate that will be provided to state that the module has been completed. You can join anonymously if you wish, although it is necessary to provide an email address to log in. It is up to the user to determine what state they wish to nominate within the module.
The module is available at the drs4drs website
Some peer reviewed papers relevant to caring for colleagues
- Hutton CJ, Kay M, Round P, Barton C. “Do they think I’m good enough?”: General practitioners’ experiences when treating doctor-patients. BMC Primary Care. 2024; 25:340
- Hutton CJ, Kay M, Round P, Barton C. Doctors’ experiences when treating doctor-patients: a scoping review. BJGP Open. 2023; 7(4):BJGPO.2023.0090.
- Kay M. I know to look after myself – I’m a doctor! O&G Magazine. Winter, 2020; 22(2). Available at: https://www.ogmagazine.org.au/author/margaret-kay/
- Kay M, Dawes V. Working together to ensure health care access for doctors. Med J Aust. 2019; 211(11):497-498.e1
- Kay M, Mitchell G, Clavarino A, Frank E. Developing a framework for understanding doctors’ health access: A qualitative study of Australian GPs. Aust J Prim Health. 2012; 18:158-65
- Kay M, Mitchell G, Clavarino A. What doctors want? A consultation method when the patient is a doctor. Aust J Prim Health. 2010; 16(1):52-59
- Kay M, Mitchell G, Clavarino A, Doust J. Doctors as patients: a systematic review of doctors' health access and the barriers they experience. Br J Gen Pract. 2008; 58(552):501-508
Links to some narrative articles written by doctors who experienced health issues
- Silagy C. A view from the other side. A doctor’s experience of having lymphoma. Aust Fam Physician 2001; 30: 547-549.
- Rabin D, Rabin P, Rabin R. Compounding the ordeal of ALS. Isolation from my fellow physicians. N Engl JMed 1982; 307(8): 506–509.
Books that offer a reflection by doctors about their health
- Klitzman, R. When doctors become patients. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2008
- Bravery, B. Th patient doctor. How one man's cancer diagnosis led to a quest to put the heart back into healthcare. Hachette Australia 2022
- Groopman, J. ‘How doctors think.’ Scribe Publications: Melbourne. 2007
Books relevant to caring for our health
- Rowe L, Abeygunawardana V, Kidd M. “Every doctor. healthier doctors = healthier patients.” 2nd Ed. CRC Press. 2023.
- Gerada C.(Ed) “Beneath the white coat doctors, Their minds and mental health”. Routledge. 2020.
- Good Medical Practice. TBC