Dr. Moutier Interview Structure for “Suicide Prevention and Optimizing Wellbeing”

Intro

• I will share your 200ish word bio then turn it over to you to fill in the gaps.
• I will ask you to share a little about yourself and your decision to go to medical school (not residency or beyond) in the first place.

1. Your story and your work at American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

• Tell us about the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
  • What is the mission of the foundation and what functions does it service?
  • What is your role as Chief Medical Officer at AFSP?
• You have personally dealt with depression (while in medical school) and the loss of several physician colleagues to suicide. Would you mind sharing the story of your own struggle with depression; the circumstances surrounding and the fallout of the death of your colleagues; and how these events and others led you to work at the AFSP?

2. Burnout and physician suicide: the facts

• The suicide rate among male physicians is 1.41 times higher than the general male population. And among female physicians, the relative risk is even more pronounced — 2.27 times greater than the general female population.
  • What’s the deal? Why are physicians at an increased risk of suicide than the general population?
• What is burnout?
  • What does it look and feel like?
  • What causes burnout? What’s the science?
• How are burnout and depression related?
  • When do burnout and depression (and any other factors) become severe enough that they drive a physician to commit suicide?

3. Suicide Prevention and Optimizing Wellbeing

• As we discussed, everyone is somewhere on the spectrum of mental health ranging from good to suicidal, and once you know where you fall on the spectrum, you can start to better understand what you can do about it:
  • If you are in relatively good mental health, that is, not burned out, depressed or suicidal, what is the key to maintaining this level of wellbeing in medical school, residency and life?
    • What are the tenets of good mental health and wellbeing, and what practices can we implement to maintain them?
    • What are the preventative practice of suicide “prevention”?
  • If you are burned out, depressed, or heading in that direction…
    • What should you do for yourself?
    • What can others do to help?
  • If you are suicidal…
    • What should you do for yourself?
    • What can others do to help?
• As it relates to suicide prevention and optimizing wellbeing/mental health, what would you encourage premeds/medical students/residents/physicians to think about and/or plan for in earnest as they progress through their careers?
  • Are there any practice settings that have been identified as being particularly detrimental to mental health, or particularly beneficial to mental health?
    • Example settings: medical school vs. residency vs. being an attending; surgery vs. medicine vs. other specialties; inpatient vs. outpatient; academic vs. private vs. public; urban vs. rural; civilian vs. military vs. governmental; national vs. international; clinical vs. research.
• Other questions.
• What is the biggest challenge facing suicide prevention and optimal wellbeing in medicine, and where do you predict the status quo will be in 10 or 20 years?
• Is there anything that I haven’t asked you about burnout, depression, suicide prevention and wellbeing that you think listeners should know?

• I will then ask about resources you used and would recommend others use to learn more about suicide prevention and optimizing wellbeing.

4. “Give us advice for long-term career planning irrespective of choice of specialty”

• You have practiced medicine for some number of years now.  Take a moment to tell us what you have learned about what it takes to ensure a maximally fulfilling career, irrespective of the choice of one’s specialty.
• My follow-up questions will include:
  • If you could go back and do it all again, what would you do differently, and what would you do the same, and why?
  • What is a career mistake that you have seen other physicians make? What is something you have seen another physician do well that has made you want to emulate it?
  • What is one thing you are struggling with or lamenting about your career today, what are you doing to remedy it, and what would you encourage a medical student to do right now to help avoid this problem entirely in the future?
• I will then ask “What book(s), medical or non-medical, do you think every person pursuing a career in medicine should read?”

5. Finale

• We’ll end with you sharing any final thoughts.
• I will then ask if there is anything you are working on that you would like to listeners to be aware of; if there is somewhere where they can go to find out more about you (if you want them to); and what the best way to connect with you is (if you want them to).
• Say our goodbyes.

I will call you via Skype at the appointed time.  My Skype ID is Semidecent. This is an audio only interview.

*Disclaimer*

Recording: By participating in the UndifferentiatedMedicalStudent.com interview, you agree to allow UndifferentiatedMedicalStudent.com of Iatrocast, LLC to record, distribute, and disseminate the podcast in any manner. You also agree to allow UndifferentiatedMedicalStudent.com and Iatrocast, LLC to retain rights to the produced media for potential future use in speeches, books, and in all other public distribution.