Sound Mind: conversations about physician wellness and medical culture - Death threats and safety protocols: the troubling new reality for many physicians

Death threats and safety protocols: the troubling new reality for many physicians

12/22/21 • 34 min

Sound Mind: conversations about physician wellness and medical culture

Physician advocates never imagined being the targets of intimidation and death threats for supporting public health measures during the pandemic. But it’s happening.
Three doctors -- Nili Kaplan-Myrth, Naheed Dosani and Jennifer Kwan -- open up about the impact these violent threats have had on their wellness and the steps they’ve taken to protect themselves, their families, their staff and patients.

“In my office, we added cameras indoors and outdoors. And we keep our door locked, which is sad because if we look through the door and don't recognize the patient or person standing on the porch, we don't open the door. And sometimes that is a patient. It's just not somebody we were expecting to arrive at that time.” -- Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth

In this episode, host Dr. Caroline Gérin-Lajoie holds a candid conversation with the three physicians about what it’s like to live in fear of an attack, how peer support is helping them cope and what social media platforms and governments can do to help protect those who choose to speak out.

Want to learn more about physician wellness? Visit the CMA Physician Wellness Hub for curated, clinically-based tools, resources, and research on all the topics covered in this podcast.
Pour voir la description et la transcription de l’épisode en français, cliquez ici.

Previous Episode

The personal cost of leading Canada’s public health response to COVID-19

For most physicians, the fight against COVID-19 took place away from public scrutiny. But for public health physicians, their words, their work, and sometimes their raw emotions, have taken centre stage. Two of Canada’s chief medical officers of health – Dr. Saqib Shahab from Saskatchewan and Dr. Catherine Elliott from the Yukon – share the toll the pandemic has taken on them and their colleagues.

“It was only a few months in where I thought, no human can really keep this pace: new evidence coming in every day...the pace of meetings and press conferences, and evidence-based decisions, and the weight of these types of decisions.” – Dr. Catherine Elliott

In this episode, host Dr. Caroline Gérin-Lajoie speaks with Dr. Elliott about what causes moral distress among public health physicians and recent survey results from the Public Health Physicians of Canada showing high rates of burnout among its members.

On Dec. 8, join Dr. Gérin-Lajoie and other physicians to discuss this topic in a CMA Wellness Connection peer support session. Register by clicking here:

Want to learn more about physician wellness? Visit the CMA Physician Wellness Hub for curated, clinically-based tools, resources, and research on all the topics covered in this podcast.

Next Episode

Code white: Protecting ED docs from workplace violence

“Code White” is a term used in many health care settings to alert workers to a real or perceived threat of violence. Unfortunately, they are being called more frequently, especially in emergency departments.

The reality is that health care workers face four times as great a rate of workplace violence than other professions. In emergency departments, more than 50% of nurses will be sexually harassed or assaulted this year. More than half are physically or verbally abused in any given week. And nearly 70% of emergency physicians -- like Dr. Howard Ovens at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto -- say ED violence has increased in the past five years.

“The pandemic has escalated all of this because everybody's testy and patients have shorter fuses, families have shorter fuses. They are acting out, especially around things like visitor restrictions as well as wait times. And with masks on, it's harder to establish rapport and a human connection... The entire atmosphere is much tenser, and it's contributed to an exodus from the profession, especially by nurses.” - Dr. Howard Ovens, ED physician

In this episode, Dr. Ovens describes the rising threats of violence in the ED and talks about why hospitals have a responsibility to keep doctors safe. And host Dr. Caroline Gérin-Lajoie speaks to medical psychotherapist Dr. Marcia Kostenuik about steps health care workers can take to prevent patient abuse and how they can recover from emotionally-charged interactions.