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Working together to ensure health care access for doctors

Margaret P Kay and Victoria Dawes
Med J Aust 2019; 211 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/mja2.50421
Published online: 9 December 2019

Physicians share a collective responsibility to support their peers in the help‐seeking process

Suggesting that a doctor should “go to a doctor” sounds simple. However, the reality can be very different.1 This article considers the complexity that underpins this concept.


  • 1 University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD
  • 2 Queensland Doctors' Health Programme, Brisbane, QLD


Correspondence: m.kay1@uq.edu.au

Competing interests:

Margaret Kay and Victoria Dawes are employees of Queensland Doctors' Health Programme (QDHP), which has clinical and research expertise in doctors' health and advocates for doctors' health. QDHP is an independent service supported through funding from the Medical Board of Australia. This funding is distributed via the Doctors' Health Services to ensure that the funding received is provided at arm's length.

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  • 2. Beyondblue. National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students. Melbourne: Beyondblue, 2013. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/docs/default-source/research-project-files/bl1132-report---nmhdmss-full-report_web (viewed June 2019).
  • 3. Shanafelt TD, Hasan O, Dyrbye LN, et al. Changes in Burnout and Satisfaction with Work‐Life Balance in Physicians and the General US Working Population between 2011 and 2014. Mayo Clin Proc 2015; 90: 1600–1613.
  • 4. Expert Advisory Group on Discrimination, Bullying and Sexual Harassment. Report to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Melbourne: Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, 2015. https://umbraco.surgeons.org/media/1018/eag-report-to-racs-final-28-september-2015.pdf (viewed June 2019).
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  • 6. Kay MP, Mitchell GK, Del Mar CB. Doctors do not adequately look after their own physical health. Med J Aust 2004; 181: 368–370. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2004/181/7/doctors-do-not-adequately-look-after-their-own-physical-health
  • 7. West CP, Dyrbye LN, Erwin PJ, Shanafelt TD. Interventions to prevent and reduce physician burnout: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Lancet 2016; 388: 2272–2281.
  • 8. Wallace JE, Lemaire JB, Ghali WA. Physician wellness: a missing quality indicator. Lancet 2009; 374: 1714–1721.
  • 9. Bodenheimer T, Sinsky C. From triple to quadruple aim: care of the patient requires care of the provider. Ann Fam Med 2014; 12: 573–576.
  • 10. Medical Board of Australia. Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia. Canberra: Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, 2014. https://www.medicalboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Policies/Code-of-conduct.aspx (viewed June 2019).
  • 11. Kay M, Mitchell G, Clavarino A, Frank E. Developing a framework for understanding doctors' health access: a qualitative study of Australian GPs. Aust J Prim Health 2011; 18: 158–165.
  • 12. Spiers J, Buszewicz M, Chew‐Graham CA, et al. Barriers, facilitators, and survival strategies for GPs seeking treatment for distress: a qualitative study. Br J Gen Pract 2017; 67: e700–e708.
  • 13. Kay M, Mitchell G, Clavarino A. What doctors want? A consultation method when the patient is a doctor. Aust J Prim Health 2010; 16: 52–59.
  • 14. Freeman TR, McWhinney IR. Philosophical and scientific foundations of family medicine. In: Freeman TR, editor. McWhinney's textbook of family medicine, 4th ed. USA: Oxford University Press, 2016: 104–145.

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