Citation

Yaghmour NA, Brigham TP, Richter T, Miller RS, Philibert I, Baldwin DC, Nasca TJ. Acad. Med. 2017; 92(7): 976-983.

Affiliation

N.A. Yaghmour is research analyst, Department of Education, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Illinois. T.P. Brigham is chief of staff and senior vice president, Department of Education, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Illinois, and associate professor of medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. T. Richter is director, Department of Applications and Analysis, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Illinois. R.S. Miller is senior vice president, Department of Application Development and Data Analysis, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Illinois. I. Philibert is senior vice president, Department of Field Activities, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Illinois. D.C. Baldwin Jr. is senior scholar, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Illinois. T.J. Nasca is chief executive officer, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Chicago, Illinois, and professor of medicine and molecular physiology, Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Association of American Medical Colleges, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/ACM.0000000000001736

PMID

28514230

Abstract

PURPOSE: To systematically study the number of U.S. resident deaths from all causes, including suicide.

METHOD: The more than 9,900 programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) annually report the status of residents. The authors aggregated ACGME data on 381,614 residents in training during years 2000 through 2014. Names of residents reported as deceased were submitted to the National Death Index to learn causes of death. Person-year calculations were used to establish resident death rates and compare them with those in the general population.

RESULTS: Between 2000 and 2014, 324 individuals (220 men, 104 women) died while in residency. The leading cause of death was neoplastic disease, followed by suicide, accidents, and other diseases. For male residents the leading cause was suicide, and for female residents, malignancies. Resident death rates were lower than in the age- and gender-matched general population. Temporal patterns showed higher rates of death early in residency. Deaths by suicide were higher early in training, and during the first and third quarters of the academic year. There was no upward or downward trend in resident deaths over the 15 years of this study.

CONCLUSIONS: Neoplastic disease and suicide were the leading causes of death in residents. Data for death by suicide suggest added risk early in residency and during certain months of the academic year. Providing trainees with a supportive environment and with medical and mental health services is integral to reducing preventable deaths and fostering a healthy physician workforce.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.

Language: en