Mental Health of General Practitioners in Emergency Wards

Aims General practitioners have an essential role in patient care and are exposed to highlevels of job stress. General practitioners’ mental health has effects on their functionalabilities and medical managements.This study was carried out to evaluate the mental healthof general practitioners in emergency wards in KashanUniversity of Medical Sciences, Iran.Materials & Methods In this cross-sectional study, all of General practitioners in emergencywards (n=87) were studied. The survey instruments includedtwo questionnaires:1-demographic variables and 2- General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Data wereanalyzed using SPSS 16 software and Chi square, Fisher exactand Mann-Whitney statisticaltests.Findings The mean age of general practitioners was 36.11±5.67 years; 89.7% of themwere married; 60.3% were male. 41% of the total general practitioners had mental healthproblems. The mean score of GHQ was 22.56±9.24. There were significant relationshipsbetween mental health and each age, employment situation, and number of children(p<0.05). Older physicians had better mental health than the younger ones. There weresignificant relationships between employment situation and anxiety (p=0.017) andsomatic symptom (p=0.03). There were no significant relationships between mental healthand each sex and marital status (p>0.05).Conclusion The majority of employed general practitioners in emergency rooms do nothave proper mental health statuses.

Keywords:

General Practitioners , Mental Health , Questionnaires , Emergencies