January 09th, 2018

Within a few months last year, two doctors associated with the University of New Mexico committed suicide and one attempted suicide.  Few reactions were expressed publicly among the physicians in my department.  There was no discussion at faculty meetings about physician well-being and our work conditions.  Doubtless, some doctors felt that the practice environment at UNM was toxic, but administrators did not seek workers' honest thoughts about these problems.   There seemed to be a culture of silence and denial.
      These deaths and near-deaths were "sentinel events."  In health care, sentinel events are serious events in which a patient dies or suffers grave injury.  Typically, such events are analyzed to identify the "root cause" with the goal of preventing further harm.  Publicly, no such analysis was discussed or reported.