Photo by chris@APLStress has become an acceptable cliché, ignored by most and discarded as normal by most medical students and junior doctors alike.

In the United Kingdom, studies have determined that the proportion of medical professionals demonstrating above-threshold levels of stress is around 28%, compared to around 18% in the general working population. The British Medical Association (BMA) has estimated that one doctor in 15 could develop a dependency on alcohol or drugs at some point in their career.

So what’s the moral of this research? Identify when you are being affected by stress and tackle it early. Sara Williams and Gareth Gillespie have written an article in MPS’s signature journal Casebook exploring the indicators of stress and how to tackle it in the medical world – you can read it here.

MPS has also launched a worldwide counselling service for members, to provide support in times of work-related stress. It is available to members who have experienced an adverse incident or medicolegal issue and are experiencing emotional or psychological difficulties. For further information contact MPS at 0845 605 4000 or querydoc [at] mps.org.uk.

Lets go back to the results from 1986 from the paper “Levels and sources of stress in medical students”, published by Jenny Firth.

The domains assessed included:

• Clinical tasks with patients
• Talking with patients
• Dealing with death or suffering
• Relationship with consultants Relationship with other doctors
• Academic work
• Effect on private life (relationships, finances, etc)
• Feeling that medical profession has failed
• (embarrassing or distressing patients, possibility of
• incompetence, etc.)
• Presenting cases, performing on ward rounds
• Concerns over electives

33% of men and 4% of women did not report any stressful experiences. I wonder where they are now…What’s perhaps even more interesting is that ‘talking with patients’ was the most stressful event for the students. Why not have a look at our poll to see what the current medical students were thinking?

Amongst the results are some interesting findings including:

• 17% of medical students agreeing to drinking a lot occasionally
• 4% of medical students drinking a lot often

Its likely that the domains, if they were being written again today would have a slightly different feel to them. A quick search on Google now brings up the American Medical Students Association (AMSA) for some helpful advice on dealing with stress. Unfortunately with the increasing pressures of the global credit crunch, there are certainly fears that it could only get worse.