Reducing suicide risk in medical students and residents

Endorsed In: 
May, 2023
Paper Type: 
Position Paper

Download: Click here to access the full paper

Authors:

  • Irina Petrovic (McMaster University)
  • Maya Hartman (McMaster University)
  • Kathy Zhang (Western University)

Background: ​

Suicide rates are elevated in physicians compared to the general population. One meta-analysis reported a standardized mortality ratio for suicide of 1.44 in physicians worldwide. The risk has been found to be markedly higher in female physicians and moderately higher in male physicians compared to the general population. This increased risk of suicide may begin as early as undergraduate medical education. Recent studies of Canadian medical learners revealed that 6.1–7.8% of medical students experienced suicidal ideation (SI) in the past 12 months. This rate exceeds that measured in other post-secondary graduates in Canada (3.2%). SI is even more prevalent in residents, with 4.3–33.3% considering suicide during residency or in the recent past. In fact, suicide was the second most prevalent cause of U.S. resident death from 2000 to 2014. This is not a new problem—in samples as early as the 1940s, suicide was the second leading cause of death in medical students,10 representing over half a century since the recognition of this issue. Although medical learner suicide is a relatively uncommon event, it is one that has devastating and long-lasting effects on students, as well as their family and friends, and represents an unquantifiable loss of future potential.

Recommendations: 

  • That medical schools implement anonymous screening strategies to identify students and residents at risk of suicide.
  • That medical schools develop, implement, and evaluate targeted individual- and institution-level interventions to reduce suicide risk
  • That medical schools develop a coordinated and compassionate response policy in the event of a learner suicide.