These are the healthcare jobs with the highest suicide risk, study finds

Healthcare workers are at greater risk of suicide compared to the general population, and people in specific medical roles are particularly at risk.

Researchers at the New York State Psychiatric Institute noted that most previous studies have focused exclusively on physicians, who make up only about five percent of the health care workforce.

However, this study involved a variety of health care professionals, including nurses, health technicians, health care support workers, and social workers.

It found that overall, the risk of suicide was 32 percent higher among those working in industry, compared to non-health workers.

Lead author of the study, Dr Mark Olfson, said: ‘We need to look at the working conditions of (health workers) and seek to implement reforms to give them more support, flexibility in their work routines and timely access to mental health care.’

The researchers used the Mortality Disparities in American Communities dataset, linking participants aged 26 and older from the 2008 American Community Survey to National Death Index records through the end of 2019.

The study used data from 1.84 million adults, including 176,000 healthcare workers and 1.66 million non-health workers, with an average age of 44 years.

During the years in which the data was analyzed, 200 health care workers and 2,500 non-health workers had committed suicide.

Although the risk was about a third higher overall, certain healthcare specialties were at twice the risk.

For nurses this was 64 percent higher.

For health technicians, who often collect and prepare blood samples, examine tissue samples or manage laboratories, the risk of suicide was 39 percent higher.

Among social or behavioral workers, who assess and treat people with mental, emotional problems and substance abuse, this was 14 percent higher.

Doctors saw an increase of 11 percent.

Emergency workers saw the greatest risk of suicide. People in these positions are 81 percent more likely to commit suicide than non-health care workers, researchers found.

These functions include taking patients’ vital signs, changing bandages, assisting with walking or transporting patients, and assisting patients with personal hygiene, dressing, and eating tasks.

Support workers are supervised by healthcare professionals in a variety of settings, from mental health to childcare.

Researchers say that support workers are at increased risk of suicide because they are often in low-paid and monotonous positions with few opportunities for career advancement.

A previous study also found that these workers are at very high risk for work-related injuries.

Dr. Olfson told MedPage Today: “We need to look at their working conditions and try to implement reforms to provide them with more support, flexibility in their work routines and timely access to mental health care.”

In addition to the differences between occupations, the recent study also found that suicide risk differed between genders. Although the overall risk of suicide among health care workers is higher for men than for women, the increase in risk to the general public among female health care workers was greater than the increase among men.

It could be because female doctors tend to spend more time in contact with patients and are more likely to be mistreated, he said MedPageToday.

They are also more likely to have insomnia, report lower job satisfaction and are more prone to burnout, he said.

‘That is a new finding. We don’t know what’s causing that,” Dr. Olfson said, but added that the sample size was too small to reach a definitive conclusion.

The research was published on Tuesday in JAMA Network.