How I Do It: Suicidal Ideation During Surgical Training: Is an Innovative Surgical Trainee Check Ins Program a Part of the Solution?

Abstract

Objective: Mental health distress and suicidal ideation are leading contributors to the silent epidemic of physician suicide leading to approximately 300 to 400 physician deaths per year. The Second Trial has illuminated the alarming fact that several of our residents have experienced suicidal thoughts within the last year. Unfortunately, our institution is not an outlier. Suicidal ideation and under- or untreated mental health disorders are increasingly prevalent in the surgical trainee population. Given the major concern for our residents' well-being, our department consulted a licensed mental health professional familiar with resident training and the GME to develop a program to provide access to a mental health professional that is free of cost for trainees, safe and confidential.

Design: Implementation of a 30 minute opt-out resident check-in program with a licensed mental health professional and a post-session survey that provided retrospective survey data for analysis.

Setting: This program was implemented at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, VA.

Participants: General surgery categorical and preliminary residents participated in this program.

Results: Thirty residents participated in the program and an overwhelming majority would like to continue this program at regular intervals. Sessions were 25 minutes on average and 27.7% of participants requested additional sessions.

Conclusions: Implementation of this program for our surgical trainees was favorably perceived with request for continuation of the program and provided access to a safe space with a familiar provider.

Keywords: mental health; occupational mental health; resident burnout; suicidal ideation; surgical trainee.