Surgeon, don't heal thyself: a study of the health of Australasian urologists

BACKGROUND

Modern surgical practice is stressful and anxiety-producing. We investigated urologists health and their attitude to their own health care.

METHODS

Two hundred and seventy-five Australasian urologists were surveyed to ascertain their attitudes to their physical and psychological health; 205 responses were received.

RESULTS

Ten per cent reported serious physical illnesses. Fewer than half had their own general practitioner (GP), and fewer than one-third had seen a doctor in the previous 12 months. A majority had, at some time, prescribed themselves medication, including antibiotics, narcotic and non-narcotic analgesia and benzodiazepams. Nearly all reported that aspects of their urological practice caused them anxiety. More felt that this anxiety was the result of pressures experienced outside the operating theatre than problems directly related to performing surgery. A small number of psychological problems were reported, and fewer than 10 per cent had ever a visited a psychiatrist. It was evident that most Australasian urologists were unwilling to discuss any psychological problems that they may have. Even when a specific problem had been identified, few sought the appropriate care.

CONCLUSIONS

It would be advantageous for Australasian urologists and doctors in general to see their GP more regularly, and be more willing to discuss any psychological difficulties that they may experience.

Phase II clinical trial of recombinant alpha-2 interferon for biopsy-proven metastatic or recurrent renal carcinoma

Twenty patients with histologically confirmed metastatic or recurrent renal carcinoma were treated in a phase II study with alpha-interferon (2-5 x 10(6) U/m2 subcutaneously, 3 times a week). Nineteen patients had multiple sites of disease and 18 had previously undergone nephrectomy; 9 had an ECOG performance status of 0.1, and 11 had a performance status of 2-3. There was one partial response, yielding an overall response rate of 5%. Treatment was well tolerated, although 7 patients developed influenza-like symptoms, and in 2 cases this was sufficiently severe for the patients to request cessation of treatment. As a single agent at this dose schedule, alpha-interferon has minimal activity in the treatment of renal carcinoma and cannot be recommended as standard therapy. The difference in outcome between this and some published series may reflect the stringent requirement for histological proof of the presence of metastases.

Possible hazard of polymethyl methacrylate

Images