Physician leaders: Are you committed to doing everything you possibly can to prevent physician suicide?

This CHAP is how you answer that question.

This document contains two steps that will ensure you do everything possible to be there for your people when they need you the most.

1. A simple audit that will show you how badly you fail to support your struggling doctors. It will take you less than 15 minutes to complete.
2. A checklist for a complete crisis hotline awareness program that will fill all the gaping holes in your current system.

Part One: Crisis Hotline Awareness Audit

You must personally perform this audit so you can experience the failure of your system.

• Go to a satellite facility within your system unannounced.
• Step into the back office where they are seeing patients and grab a physician/APP as they move in the hallway from room to room between patients.
• Ask them, “What is the crisis intervention hotline number – or URL?”
  • They will not be able to answer that question.
• Ask them how they would find that number or link, then ask them to do so and watch what happens.
  • Were they able to find the link or number?
  • How much effort did that require?
  • When you clicked or dialed it, did it go to your crisis hotline, and was the call picked up and handled appropriately?

Imagine this caller was actually suicidal at the time they tried to find the number.

Repeat this audit randomly throughout your system every week until your system ceases to exist.

Report the results of your weekly audit to the C-Suite every month until your system ceases to exist.

Your performance standard is 100 percent. Each and every caller should know – or be able to easily find – the call number or link. When the call is made, it should be answered immediately and appropriately by your crisis intervention staff every single time, without delay or having to leave a message.

5-step crisis hotline awareness program checklist

If one does not exist already, build or outsource a crisis hotline function within your organization dedicated to your physicians and staff. You can do this inside your EAP program; however, physicians will not access it with the same frequency as your non-physician employees. We strongly recommend you build a separate crisis hotline for the physicians. This can be outsourced.

The crisis hotline should be staffed 24/7 by an appropriate screening professional with the ability to offer immediate support to employees and physicians in crisis.

Awareness program components

1. Web/intranet

• Build the crisis hotline number into the template for every one of your intranet pages.
• The number must be on a bright background and above the fold—that is, it must be visible at the top of the page without needing to scroll to find it. This must be in the top right corner of every page inside your intranet and visible without scrolling.

2. Card in the wallet or purse

• Print several thousand copies of a business card that contains the same message and the hotline number or link.
• Distribute half a dozen cards to every person who draws a paycheck from your organization. Encourage them to carry the card in their purse or wallet or slide it into the clear cover of their ID badge. The goal is to always have this card available should it be needed for you or any of your colleagues.
• In your staff meetings, ask people to pull their cards out and show them to you, and if they don’t have one, give them another one.

3. Card with each of your leaders

• Make additional copies of the same card as needed to ensure each of your frontline leaders – both administrative and physician leaders – always has at least a couple dozen cards in their pocket. Every member of your organization should always have a card on their person, and if they don’t, their leaders should be able to supply a new one as they round on their people.

4. Card on the fridge at home

• Make as many refrigerator magnets as you need from the same card and send one to every significant other/partner of every physician or APP in your organization.
• This ensures the same information is on the refrigerator at home for every one of your providers, and their partner knows where to find the hotline number too.

5. Leadership reporting

• Every month, the leadership team should be made aware of:
  • All EAP interactions with struggling providers and staff did not come through hotline access.
  • The nature of the complaint
  • The disposition and status of each case
    • All calls made to the hotline
      • The nature of the complaint made by the caller
      • The outcome and triage disposition of every caller
      • The current status of each caller
    • The results of the weekly CHAP audit for the prior four weeks of the month
    • How many cards were handed out by each leader over the course of the previous month

From one leader to another, I personally dare you to create a program this comprehensive. I have never found a system that would pass this audit despite ten years of trying and interviewing hundreds of C-Suite executives. I sincerely hope that yours can be the first!

Completion of the checklist and weekly audits of the system will allow you to know you did everything you can to optimize the crisis hotline for your people.

Dike Drummond is a Mayo-trained family practice physician, burnout survivor, executive coach, consultant, and founder of TheHappyMD.com. He teaches simple methods to help individual physicians and organizations recognize and prevent physician burnout. These tools were discovered and tested through Dr. Drummond’s 3,000+ hours of physician coaching experience. Since 2010, he has also delivered physician wellness training to over 40,000 doctors on behalf of 175 corporate and association clients on four continents. His current work is focused on the 7 Habits of Physician Wellbeing. Dr. Drummond has also trained 250 Physician Wellness Champions, and his Quadruple Aim Blueprint Corporate Physician Wellness Strategy is designed to launch all five components in a single onsite day. He can also be reached on Facebook, X @dikedrummond, and on his podcast, Physicians on Purpose.