Schaumburg, Ill. (June 2, 2020) – ENA and several emergency medicine and other leading medical associations, academics and psychiatry experts collaborated on a statement that outlines steps to support the mental health of emergency health care providers and other health professionals currently risking their lives to treat patients during this pandemic.

Optimal physical and mental health of health care providers is conducive to the optimal health and safety of patients, the joint statement reads. Health care professionals should feel comfortable seeking treatment for psychiatric symptoms, just as anyone else should. A health professionals’ history of mental illness or substance use disorder treatment should not be used as an indicator of their current or future ability to competently practice medicine.

These leading medical groups believe that credentialing entities should refrain both from discouraging health care providers from seeking professional help and from dissuading them from joining peer support groups. There should be no reprisals for anyone who engages in such therapeutic endeavors.

You can read the entire statement here.

The joint statement is signed by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), American Medical Association (AMA), American Psychiatric Association (APA), American Academy of Allergy, Asthma &  Immunology (AAAAI), American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), American Academy of Neurology (AAN), American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPMR), American Association for Emergency Psychiatry (AAEP), American Association of Suicidology (AAS), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American College of Physicians (ACP), American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), American College of Surgeons (ACS), American Epilepsy Society (AES), American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), American Geriatric Society (AGS), American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS), American Society of Hematology (ASH), American Society of Nephrology (ASN), American Thoracic Society (ATS), American Urological Association (AUA), Coalition on Psychiatric Emergencies (CPE), Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine (CORD), Council for Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA), Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), North American Spine Society (NASS), Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants (SEMPA), Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)