3.3 Physician Impairment

Join Dr. Sanya Virani and her guests, Dr. Iverson Bell and Dr. Allison Ford to discuss the invaluable new title The Psychiatry Resident Handbook which aims to provide support, experience and mentorship to new residents, a book that trainees across the country will benefit from having on their bookshelves. In this episode, our guests -both contributors to the section on physician Impairment- share their experiences and perspectives around the subjects of physician burnout, compassion fatigue and substance abuse among colleagues and professionals, the signs to look out for, the consequences, and strategies for intervention.

In this episode:
Introduction (0:11)
Dr. Bell’s experience of physician impairment (2:45)
Dr. Ford’s experience of physician impairment (06:05)
The scope of the problem (10:00)
Defining “impairment” (16:30)
Personal experience of encountering stress in physicians (18:35)
Where to draw the line (24:25)
Confronting your colleagues (26:55)
Sobering statistics (30:35)
Closing thoughts (32:20)

Dr. Iverson Bell, Jr., MD, son of the AAVMC icon for diversity, earned the MD degree in 1977 from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Dr. Bell specializes in psychiatry and lives with his wife and children in Atlanta, GA.

Dr. Allison Ford is an Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Other podcasts from the APA