When doctors are patients: a narrative study of help-seeking behaviour among addicted physicians

Wistrand, Jonatan

doi:10.1136/medhum-2016-011002

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The medical humanities intersect with the popular practice of public engagement, emphasising in particular creative co-production research that uses methods including theatre, storytelling or artistic production (we related to the medical humanities in this paper especially through creative, participatory and dialogical approaches from within the visual arts and social sciences/cultural studies branches of the medical humanities). 24,25 Medical humanities scholarship thereby shares an interest in the role of experience and expression of illness and healing, [26][27][28][29] and it has an important role to play in broadening debates away from reductionist towards a holistic and contextsensitive understanding of complex medical phenomena like AMR. [30][31][32] At the same time, explorations building on artistic and creative processes do not exist in opposition to but rather enable dialogue with established medical notions and conventions, giving them new perspectives and interpretations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tales of treatment and new perspectives for global health research on antimicrobial resistance

et al. 2020

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Global health champions modernism and biomedical knowledge but tends to neglect knowledge, beliefs and identities of rural communities in low-income and middle-income countries. The topic of antimicrobial resistance represents these common challenges, wherein the growing emphasis on public engagement offers a yet underdeveloped opportunity to generate perspectives and forms of knowledge that are not typically incorporated into research and policy. The medical humanities as an interdisciplinary approach to illness and health behaviour play a central role in cultivating this potential—in particular, through the field’s emphasis on phenomenological and intersubjective approaches to knowledge generation and its interest in dialogue between medicine, the humanities and the broader public.We present a case study of public engagement that incorporates three medical humanities methods: participatory co-production, photographic storytelling and dialogue between researchers and the public. Situated in the context of northern Thailand, we explore subcases on co-production workshops with villagers, tales of treatment shared by traditional healers and dialogue surrounding artistic display in an international photo exhibition. Our starting assumption for the case study analysis was that co-produced local inputs can (and should) broaden the understanding of the sociocultural context of antimicrobial resistance.Our case study illustrates the potential of medical humanities methods in public engagement to foreground cultural knowledge, personal experience and ‘lay’ sensemaking surrounding health systems and healing (including medicine use). Among others, the engagement activities enabled us to formulate and test locally grounded hypotheses, gain new insights into the social configuration of treatment seeking and reflect on the relationship between traditional healing and modern medicine in the context of antimicrobial resistance. We conclude that medical-humanities-informed forms of public engagement should become a standard component of global health research, but they require extensive evaluation to assess benefits and risks comprehensively.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tales of treatment and new perspectives for global health research on antimicrobial resistance

et al. 2020

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“…13,14 Physicians may be similar as a group and are also known to delay help-seeking and more data is needed to understand these issues in male physicians. 15 Screening and supporting IPV victims are critical physician responsibilities. [16][17][18][19] It is reasonable that personal IPV experience has the potential to skew professional behavior by avoiding this sensitive topic with patients and impacted colleagues.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intimate Partner Violence Experienced by Physicians

Reibling

Distelberg

Guptill

et al. 2020

J Prim Care Community Health

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Purpose: World Health Organization (WHO) defines intimate partner violence (IPV) as physical, sexual or psychological harm caused by an intimate partner or ex-partner. There are few studies describing interpersonal violence (IPV) among physicians. Our study describes IPV experienced by U.S. physicians. Methods: This was a multicenter survey administered to 4 physician groups in 2015 to 2016. In total 400 respondents returned survey results. Measures included current IPV, childhood abuse, mental health, professional role, and demographics. Results: IPV was reported by 24% of respondents. The most frequent abuses reported were: verbal (15%), physical (8%) followed by sexual abuse (4%) and stalking (4%). Logistic regression model found that IPV was more likely to be reported by older participants (aged 66–89), those who experienced childhood abuse, working less than full time, and had been diagnosed with a personality disorder. Women and Asian Americans reported slightly higher IPV rates. Conclusions: Our study has implications for both medical education and intervention development. Universal screening and education that addresses clinical implications when treating peers who experience IPV are needed. Workplace interventions that consider unique physician characteristics and experiences are needed, as well as programs that support sustained recovery. This is the first survey to our knowledge that confirms that physicians experience IPV at a rate consistent or higher than the national level. We developed a standardized instrument to assess IPV in male and female physicians at various career stages. We also identified significant predictors that should be included in IPV screening of potential physician victims.

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“…Mulligan's focus on how illness affects his personal rather than professional self calls to mind Paul Kalanithi's acclaimed testimony When Breath Becomes Air (2016). And Pinner's fixed doctor identity is not so very different to the one described by Mikhail Bulgakov in his semi-fictional short story, "Morphine" (1927) (Bulgakov 1975;Wistrand 2017). It thus seems reasonable to argue that doctors' experiences of personal illness and treatment has changed over time, making it a less frustrating and confusing event for contemporary doctors than it was in decades earlier.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Ailing Hearts and Troubled Minds: An Historical and Narratological Study on Illness Narratives by Physicians with Cardiac Disease

Wistrand

2020

J Med Humanit

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A number of studies show that when doctors become ill, there is often ambiguity in the division of roles and responsibilities in the medical encounter. Yet little is known about how the dilemma of the sick doctor has changed over time. This article explores the experience of illness among physicians by applying an historical, narratological approach to three doctor's narratives about personal cases of cardiac disease: Max Pinner's from the 1940s, Robert Seaver's from the 1980s, and John Mulligan's from 2015. Drawing on Erving Goffman's principles of social interaction, I argue that part of the challenge in the analysed narratives is because when doctors seek medical attention for themselves, the ensuing medical 'drama' suffers. I compare the three narratives to argue that the experience of becoming a patient while simultaneously remaining a doctor is a challenge that has changed over time. In Pinner's narrative, the patient identity is both undesirable and inaccessible; in Seaver's, role ambivalence between doctor and patient is the most salient feature; for Mulligan, his personal rather than professional experience of illness is the overarching theme of the narrative. Finally, I suggest that an awareness of how the medical drama often changes when doctors are patients might prove beneficial both for the doctor-patients and providers of medical care.

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When doctors are patients: a narrative study of help-seeking behaviour among addicted physicians

Cited by 12 publications

References 15 publications

Tales of treatment and new perspectives for global health research on antimicrobial resistance

Tales of treatment and new perspectives for global health research on antimicrobial resistance

Intimate Partner Violence Experienced by Physicians

Ailing Hearts and Troubled Minds: An Historical and Narratological Study on Illness Narratives by Physicians with Cardiac Disease

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