THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S DESK
Adam Levy
A PERSONAL TAKE ON PTSD AND MENTAL HEALTH
W
hen I began working at ACOEP over seven years ago, some of the first stories I heard from EM residents were about the first time they couldn’t save someone’s life in the emergency department. It floored me. To hear these stories firsthand, as opposed to examples in entertainment or the media was difficult to comprehend for myself, and apparently for them as well. My initial reaction was and still is, “Are these people OK?” Over the past five years, we’ve seen a renaissance of discussion surrounding mental health. We see it from business professionals, physicians, trade industries, entertainment, and certainly from individuals and families. Destigmatizing what it means to seek help has been incredible for those who otherwise would have remained silent and hurting. At ACOEP and many medical societies, we’ve discussed the topic of physician wellness and watched as it’s been said over and over again (appropriately so). Physician suicide hotlines. Free counseling services for physicians. Message boards on the internet. It’s clear that physician wellness, and mental health specifically, has been put to the forefront and it’s long overdue. As far as we’ve come with regards to physicians and any other group in removing the stigma of
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THE PULSE SUMMER 2020
seeking mental health, we have a long way to go as a society and human race in creating greater access to mental help – foundationally, financially, and with how its regarded. With COVID-19, on top of an already demanding and draining career as emergency physicians, I have had many conversations with our members about their wellbeing and how they are “holding up.” At first, depending on location, some of our members were working 24-hour shifts, intubating multiple patients per hour. Others hadn’t seen a single COVID case yet. That was over three months ago and, unfortunately, we’ve seen how quickly things are changing one way or the other and back and forth repeatedly. It’s safe to say that everyone has felt the impact. PTSD is something we mostly talk about with regards to military personnel and veterans, but it’s finally coming out more with regards to any traumatic experience we as humans experience. Personally, I am not a physician, however I have five direct family members who are physicians, including my father-in-law who is a CMO in the Bronx in New York. He tested positive for COVID during the first weeks
of the New York City outbreak and became severely ill. Luckily, he avoided critical care components (intubation/ventilation) and, after nearly four weeks, began to feel better and returned to work. My father-in-law is a reproductive endocrinologist and an OBGYN by trade. He’s an excellent physician, but after practicing medicine for 40+ years and creating new life for so many parents, he was not prepared to be loading corpses into refrigerated trucks for weeks at a time. As he put it, “never in my lifetime.” We’re grateful he is alive, but what comes with that? When will he be able to slow down, reflect on what just happened, and take care of his mental health? The same question applies to all our members and the thousands of physicians who may be suffering mental trauma from COVID-19. Will those who need help feel comfortable seeking it? Will their employers ensure that if they seek mental health they do not suffer
WHEN WILL HE BE ABLE TO SLOW DOWN AND REFLECT ON WHAT JUST HAPPENED, AND TAKE CARE OF HIS MENTAL HEALTH?”
