Depressed junior doctors six times more likely to make mistakes

A Harvard team of researchers studied 123 paediatric residents at three children's hospitals in the USA to establish the prevalence of depression and burnout and whether medication errors are associated with these conditions.


They found that 20% of the participants were depressed and 74% were burned out, 45 medication errors were made. Depressed doctors in training made six times more medication errors than their non-deperessed peers, but burnout did not seem to link with a higher rate of medical errors.


In an accompanying editorial, the commentator cautioned against interpreting the findings and large studies are needed to study how individual factors correlate with medical errors.


Source: "Rates of medication errors among depressed and burnt out residents: prospective cohort study" BMJ 2008;0(2008):bmj.39469.763218.BEv1 (7 February)