General

Doctors need medical attention too

Last spring we put together the popular “How healthy are you?” package. One of the most stunning trends we reported on showed that people under 25 have, by far, the highest rates of psychological problems compared to any other age group, according to data gathered by Scienta Health.

A new study in BMC Medical Education shows that med students are no exception. Researchers at ABC Regional Medical School in Brazil have found that 38 per cent of the 481 students they examined had at least 10 depressive symptoms. It was most dire among females.

Last week at the Canadian Family Physicians Forum in Toronto, experts from the College of Family Physicians of Canada spoke about the stress many medical residents face before they even start working. A report showed that more than a third of med students say their debt load after school will be over $80,000. Family docs, as it happens, earn 33 per cent less than other medical specialists. 

And then there are all the stresses of actually working in our overstretched medical system, which we wrote about last January.

So who’s taking care of our doctors?

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