- Although studying a specialty is the dream of many young people, sometimes it becomes a nightmare.
- A survey showed that 21% of specialists have had signs of depression at some point.
- The most affected specialty is Pathology.
There are professions in which you never finish learning and all those related to health are the best example. Knowledge abounds and it is always necessary to keep yourself constantly updated. In addition, the degree does not end when you graduate from the university because you can continue with your studies. For this reason, every year thousands of young people start one of the medical specialties available, but one of the problems is the tendency to suicide that persists in most options.
In the first instance, it should be emphasized that it is possible to pursue a career as a general practitioner without complications. It’s not a bad thing and you shouldn’t feel sorry because it’s decent work. In fact, first contact doctors are in charge of taking care of 80 percent of the health problems of the patients.
It is a field in which personnel are always needed and their work is very important. Being the first contact, it is necessary to know a little about everything to achieve correct diagnoses in patients.
Go from general practitioner to specialist
However, if you wish to study a specialty, it is mandatory to present and pass the National Examination of Applicants to Medical Residencies (ENARM). The general objective is to select Mexican and foreign general practitioners who aspire to complete a medical residency through a specialized university course.
The drawback is that many times the dream turns into a nightmare. Obtaining a passing score is complicated, but in reality the most difficult thing is to complete the residency. In fact, it is just the first step on a long and extensive road.
Mental health and medical specialties
With the above in mind, the Medscape portal published the results of their study A Tragedy of the Profession: Medscape Physician Suicide Report 2022. The objective was to identify the medical specialties with the highest tendency to suicide.
For the elaboration of the work, 13 thousand specialists from the United States were surveyed. Each one shared their experience about their mental health and how you deal with your harmful thoughts during this stage of life.
As part of the results, it was obtained that 21 percent of those surveyed have had signs of depression at some point. Of them, 24 percent noted clinical depression. While in general the 10 medical specialties with the greatest tendency to suicide were identified.
- Pathology – 13%
- General Surgery – 12%
- Oncology – 12%
- Infectious Diseases – 11%
- ER – 11%
- Endocrinology – 10%
- Family Medicine – 10%
- Obstetrics and Gynecology – 10%
- Psychiatry – 10%
- Plastic Surgery – 10%
The biggest culprit in this situation is Burnout Syndrome. It is generated for various reasons such as the long working hours that are usual from the training part. This causes high levels of stress and mental fatigue that often never go away.
While within the professional field the demands are even greater. Each specialist is asked to offer consultations of the highest level in the shortest possible time. In the end there is very little time left to enjoy with family or friends. As a consequence, many feel dissatisfied and this leads them to develop suicidal thoughts.