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Started by psychaccount101
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Lawyer.
"It says that if you have a current condition like depression or anxiety, you have to essentially provide documentation from your doctor that it’s under control."
So what's your question?
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You could get an employment lawyer. But I’d only do that if you’re considering fighting it. I don’t think that it’s very likely the program will just say “oh, you have a lawyer? Nevermind...disregard.” And even if you do, that’s going to get you off on the wrong foot pretty quickly. Most licensing boards will ask about mental illness/substance abuse and whether it impairs your ability to care for patients. If your anxiety isn’t well controlled...that’s a problem...not just for you but also your patients. Residency isn’t the place to sort through uncontrolled anxiety.
In general, employee health is a separate entity from your residency program. It shouldn't be disclosed to your residency program. Prior to starting residency I had to get a doctor's note to state that my migraines were not job limiting and provide that to employee health. It was a pain as I had just moved there, but AFAIK it wasn't something my residency program was made aware of.
I would not disclose.
You could just have your doc write a letter stating that you have a mild mental health issue that's under good control.
You know, I haven’t been on these boards in years, probably since I was a PGY2 or so, and now I’m an attending several years out.
I was a 40 yo FM resident with a prior work history (PA), plenty of occupational trauma (EM), an on-again, off-again husband it took me ten years to divorce and a fair bit of anxiety and depression. I was medicated. I didn’t have time for much more than telephone therapy sporadically with my trusty psychologist 3000 miles and 3 time zones away who had known me for 13 years and seen me through a prior divorce, cross-country move, job angst and Med school in my late 30s. I sure as hell didn’t disclose.
I never missed work. I was sometimes a little late. My notes were on time. My care was excellent. I’m sure I was short with people sometimes when particularly stressed and sleep-deprived.
But here we are 7 years later and they hired me back to teach residents how it’s done, so....
YMMV.
I was a 40 yo FM resident with a prior work history (PA), plenty of occupational trauma (EM), an on-again, off-again husband it took me ten years to divorce and a fair bit of anxiety and depression. I was medicated. I didn’t have time for much more than telephone therapy sporadically with my trusty psychologist 3000 miles and 3 time zones away who had known me for 13 years and seen me through a prior divorce, cross-country move, job angst and Med school in my late 30s. I sure as hell didn’t disclose.
I never missed work. I was sometimes a little late. My notes were on time. My care was excellent. I’m sure I was short with people sometimes when particularly stressed and sleep-deprived.
But here we are 7 years later and they hired me back to teach residents how it’s done, so....
YMMV.
I'm confused by the question. Do you not want your mental health to be optimized and under control or you just don't want to tell them that it isn't?
Are they also requiring notes for physical conditions? If not, then your hospital sucks basically. You need to consult an attorney. I would not disclose anything to any hospital that you're not required to disclose by law.
Unless there is current impairment, there is no reason the program needs to know about psych diagnoses.
I think that was what the question was asking along the lines are your mental health issues under control so that they won’t cause impairment but the OP didn’t want to answer on the employee contract. But it’s been deleted and there were no details given so whatever. Moving on.
That’s the issue for me. Employee health is supposed to be separate from the residency and just rubber stamp things but... the fact that they are singling out mental health gives me pause. I think I’d do what NAPD said and have your doctor write a vague note.
