Landmark Survey, funded under WHO/Europe’s project with the Europe Commission – coinciding with World Mental Health Day – analyzed nearly 100,000 responses from 29 countries from October 2024 to April this year.
The central finding is that doctors and nurses work under conditions that harm their mental health and well-being affect patients.
“In the end, the mental health crisis is among our health workers A health security crisis that threatens the integrity of our health systems“Said Hans Henri P. Kluge, Europe -Director.
Working conditions that burn anxiety, depression
The numbers reveal systemic problems. One in four doctors work over 50 hours a week, and one -third is on temporary employment contracts – a situation that is strongly linked to increased anxiety over job security.
Meanwhile, doctors and nurses show twice as much spread of suicidal thoughts compared to the general population.
One in 10 said they had thoughts of being “better off death” or “harming themselves” in the last two weeks, the WHO analysis shows.
Such an uncertain work is directly linked to poor mental health.
For it out of three doctors and nurses who experience violence, and the rest that work consistently long hours – depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts are common.
“We chose a way to humanity but that doesn’t mean we stop being people ourselves“Said Mélanie Dearreix, a radiology resident of France.
Despite the worrying numbers, three -quarters of all doctors and two out of three nurses expressed a strong sense of purpose and meaning as a result of their work.
‘Unbearable pressure’
The study shows that 11 to 34 percent of health workers are considering quitting. This puts patients at risk of experiencing longer waiting times and reduced care quality who said.
A past WHO/Europe report found that by 2022, the recruitment of health and care workers did not keep up with the rising demand, which put unbearable pressure on the overall system.
Europe is expected to have a shortage of 940,000 health workers by 2030 according to Dr. Kluge.
“Their well-being is not only a moral obligation-it is the basis for safe care of high quality for any patient,” he said.
The report sketches action-related steps that can be taken to tackle the crisis, including zero-tolerance for workplace violence, reforming shift patterns and ensure access to high quality mental health support.
