Health Problem and Occupational Stress among Chinese Doctors

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of research into mental health problem and occupational stress among Chinese doctors in recent 10 years. It indicates that doctors in general hospitals have worse mental status. Occupational stress comes from over workload, high demanding from patients, occupational risk, effort-reward imbalance and fierce competition for job promotion. For medical staffs battling against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), or working in catastrophic Wenchuan earthquake-affected areas, they have elevated stress and worrying levels of psychological distress. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common mental health problem among them. The most common diseases the Chinese doctors usually suffered were cervical spondylosis, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, fatty liver and hyperglycemia. It could be important for health administrators to note that mental health appears to be an increasing problem in Chinese doctors and corresponding helping measure should be made.