Despite claims that the pandemic is easing, nearly three quarters of GPs reported burnout in the past 12 months, according to the 2022 RACGP Health of the Nation.
Meanwhile in Healthed’s latest survey 52% of GPs noted a decline in their colleagues’ mental wellbeing over the past six months, and 38% said their own mental health had deteriorated.
This is an improvement from 6 months ago, when 86% of GPs said their own mental wellbeing had worsened since the start of the pandemic, and 74% said their colleagues’ mental wellbeing had deteriorated.
But it also suggests we’re not out of the woods yet.
Less than one in ten GPs reported improvement in their own or their colleagues’ mental wellbeing since that substantial deterioration was reported, implying that although the acute period of the pandemic is over, its effects are still being felt.
RACGP president Dr Nicole Higgins said GPs need more time to recover from the “sustained and repeated cognitive fatigue.”
“We’ve been exposed to prolonged stress and trauma over a long time. And it’s going to take a little while to manage,” DrHiggins said. “The really important message is to be gentle with ourselves, especially as everything around us starts to normalise.”
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