PROFESSION HEALTH: To acknowledge that doctors and health professional are also entitled to find their happiness too.
You are not alone and you don’t have to be. But mark my words, you are on your own!
- Dr. Bak Nguyen, from PROFESSION HEALTH
I’ve spent more than 20 years in the fields of dentistry from my first day in dental school. Like any other profession, our profession has its challenges. But is it right that we are facing one of the highest depression and suicide rates?
That’s how I was greeted on my first day in dental school, with a warning. Then, the dean, Dr. Jean Turgeon told us that he was greeted with the same words as he first started in the profession too. It was an anecdote that I soon forgot, until the day that I have an interesting discussion with an intern at Mdex: today, we are still greeting our new students with the same words!
Something is wrong here, and numbers don’t lie! I scratched my head, and I went digging around: even if dentistry is on top of the list of depression and suicide, many more health professions are getting close. And with the years, the numbers are just getting worst!
This is a matter of national health, we must act in order to protect those who are dedicating their lives in the service of others. We are white coats, we are literally the healing hands of the planet. We must accept that we too need help.
I am starting in here a dialogue to start raising the right questions. To address a problem, we must accept the problem, identify it and then, start to find a solution. This is it, the beginning of the acceptation and the diagnostic process.Is this book worth your time, white coats? Science and medicine is composed of three steps:
1- Diagnosis or Hypothesis
2- Treatment plan or Experiment
3- Reevaluation
It takes all three steps to succeed and to learn. But in medicine, we are dealing with lives, with people. We do not have the luxury of error, thank God. So we are very well trained to go through the first two steps, but as we reached the third one, REEVALUATION, it is given to our peers in the form of a trial.
The scientific chain is broken. I do understand why the third step has to be overseen by peers, but we never thought of finding something to cope with the void, systematically! Do I have your attention yet?
My brothers and sister in arms, dear white coats, we are all in this together. Together we will find a solution. It starts will opening up to share with each other.