THE Dental PBL Case

Mental Health is extremely relevant and important due to high burnout, depression and suicide rates in the Dental profession. 

You are a dentist in practice.

You notice a colleague over the last few months has been coming in early, working over their lunch breaks, and staying late to complete their notes and other admin every day.

They seem to be lethargic all the time and are distancing themselves from everyone else at the practice.

THE Medic PBL Case

You are a student on work experience sitting in on a GP consultation when Ali, a 20-year-old engineering student, comes into the room. You notice that he moves slowly, and when he speaks to you, he speaks quietly and rarely lifts his eyes. The reason why Ali has come to the GP today is because he has been experiencing some vomiting and abdominal pain over the last couple of weeks. 

 After questioning from the GP, Ali mentions that he is finding university work very difficult while living at home with his parents, and his relationship with his long-term girlfriend ended four months ago. His main lockdown pastime was playing video games with his friends, but he says that he no longer gets the same enjoyment out of this that he used to. Ali is no longer sleeping very well, and he says that he is waking up a couple of hours earlier than normal and being unable to go back to sleep. He appears to have a negative view of his situation and does not see things improving. This has been going on for a few months. 

The GP tells Ali that he is suffering from depression and uses the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale to stratify it as moderate to severe. They assess Ali’s level of risk and start him on citalopram, mentioning that it may take 3-4 weeks for him to notice any benefit. Ali is concerned about starting anti-depressants, as he has heard that there are side effects, but the GP reassures him. They also refer him for cognitive behavioural therapy, which Ali agrees to try. He is given the phone number for the Samaritans and the local crisis team, and his is told to ring them up or attend the emergency department if he feels he needs to. 

THE Vet PBL Case

Mental Health is a hugely important discussion taking place within the veterinary profession. Veterinary is known to have a high suicide rate and there have been multiple initiatives set out to help combat this. Below are some important mental health charities or initiatives to be aware of.

Often vets are in a position where they need to be aware of other people’s mental health be it colleagues or clients. Below is a scenario which could be presented to you at a university MMI station, be prepared to give answers and justifications to your action plan. 

You notice a vet colleague is repeatedly staying late after consults to type up notes and phone clients and they are becoming more and more disengaged from the team. They have suffered from ‘burnout’ previously and had time off for this. 

You are worried a similar burnout episode is imminent, how would you go about dealing with this situation and ensuring your colleague got the help they need?