Medical workers are at higher risk of burnout, depression- Experts warn

The threat of depression and burnout in Nigeria is mounting due to low level of awareness by various medical workers in the country.

Medical professionals say that the  rates at which doctors are complaining shows many of them are suffering burnout or depression over the course of their careers due to – among other reasons – overwork or administrative pressure.

The problem is not unique to Nigeria alone – studies in US, UK and Australia have shown that many medical professional are at higher risk of burnout, depression and suicide, and they are also less likely to seek help.

Experts are pointing out why the rates are so high and therefore says  awareness needs to start at student level, calling for medical education to put more emphasis on doctors realising their limitations and recognising their humanity and fallibility

“Burnout and depression amongst health workers is a real thing. Firstly we health workers are also human and so in addition to life’s challenges; we get to share in that of others. You have to be rock hard not let in some of these emotions,” said Chioma Nwakanma a public health advocate and digital media strategist.

Nwakanma said that these sense of denial and false sense of immunity is why most break down and burnout at some point.

“The work of a doctor is stressful and somehow unpredictable. You can be called at anytime, and this is worse off in a Nation like ours where workers are overused and underpaid. The country is struggling with shortage of staff and even lack of proper health insurance coverage for the doctors,” she said.

Nigeria needs no fewer than 303,000 medical doctors to meet World Health Organisation (WHO) standard, says a new survey by the Nigerian Polling organisation (NOIPolls) to avert health challenges, this implies that this puts at risk rural patients who suffer because of an urban to rural doctor density ratio and Nigeria’s poor doctor-population ratio of 1:6000 as compared with the World Health Organisation standards of 1:1000.

Physician burnout and depression amongst medical professionals is a major driver of practise dissatisfaction and this is moreover true in the Nigeria’s setting described by limited resources.

Life and death decisions are just a part of the job. But long hours, heart-breaking cases and tough working conditions can take their toll-   Working in Nigeria’s healthcare space is commonly regarded as highly stressful by medical professional.

Debo Odulana, co –founder and chief executive officer Doctoora, twitted on his twitter handle @DoctooraHealth while some health professionals deal with burnout alone, some choose harmful ways to cope like alcohol and drug use. “In Africa, there’s is a serious case of under appreciation of health professionals and they have to struggle to pay bills and clear debts.”

“Depression in health professionals is underrated and we lose valuable physicians to suicide because of that. There’s no shame in seeking help from other professionals, it doesn’t mean failure or weakness. Seeking recovery is strength in itself,” he twitted.

Burnout is now categorized as a “syndrome” that results from “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” according to the World Health Organization’s International Disease Classification (ICD-11)—the official compendium of diseases.

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest and motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.

Burnout and depression reduces productivity and the negative effects spill over into every area of life—including your home, work, and social life.

Despite their knowledge on these risk of high stress, medical workers are  often not aware of the factors that contribute to their own general and mental health.

Doctors are exposed to more work-related stressors than many other professional groups, and are therefore vulnerable to depression.

“Working long hours and getting little sleep, the body and mind could really struggle. Instead of seeking help from other doctors, some prefer to self medicate and just keep working. A vicious cycle of stress, incompetence and self-blame for mistakes then leads to depression,” Doctoora twitted.

Long hours, extensive workloads, growing intensity of the job, relentless contact with patient ill health and emergencies, low morale and the inability to attend to their personal lives are some of the critical challenges faced by medical practitioners.

“One must learn to be optimistic in trying periods. This is because whether we like it or not, we will continue to experience difficult situations in Nigeria. We need to learn to see light at the end of every dark tunnel and also know that we can always find rainbow at the end of every thunderstorm of life,” said Rotimi Coker, a consultant psychiatrist with Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos.

Coker explained that depression is a type of psychological illness that manifest in sufferers as frequent low moods, loss of energy and losing pleasure in things that hitherto gave joy. It can also disturb sleep and appetite.

“It is quite possible for individuals to be suffering from depression without actually being aware of being ill for many years thus preventing the individual from being maximally productive at work or at home,”

“It takes an average of 4 to 6 years for someone suffering from depression to get the adequate professional care. The number of Nigerians suffering from depression varies due to its severity and those suffering from depression can have mild, moderate and severe forms of depression,” he added.

However, while these rates of physician burnout, depression and suicidal ideation do not significantly differ from those of the general working population, there are reasons to believe that the threats is under-reported and under-treated

Nwakanma advised that the Government treat your workers and doctors right, pay worthy salaries and on time. She therefore calling on personal decision and goal oriented public private partnership in all aspects that concern the wellbeing of the doctors will go a long way in dealing with this.

“To the public, Doctors are human, stop shaming them when they show signs of weakness and also check on your Strong friends, in this case doctors,” she added.

ANTHONIA OBOKOH