Doctors face difficulties when they are sick and have to take the patients’ role, and those barriers can be insurmountable when the problem is an addiction or other mental health disorders. On the other hand, treating sick doctors is more challenging than addressing the same problems in the general population, but not much has been published on the difficulties experienced by doctors treating doctors, specially when this happens in the psychiatric arena. The Physician Health Program (PAIMM) of Barcelona (Spain) is dedicated to the attention of doctors affected by mental disorders and / or addictive behaviours. The program is has also links with psychiatrists all over Spain who take care of patients once discharged.

The goal is to present the results of a survey that describes the experience of psychiatrists who treat sick doctors. The survey itself consists of 25 items, scored on a Likert scale of 5 points and three qualitative questions about their experience as psychiatrists treating patients. The survey were sent to 57 psychiatrists a link to allow for anonymous response through an online system was included in the invitation.

41 responses (74, 5%) have been collected. Psychiatrists believe that treating physicians is more difficult than treating other patients. The difficulties identified are the need of better communication skills and longer interviews. The assessment of readiness to return to work is also very challenging. However, despite the difficulties, the majority of respondents are satisfied with the experience of treating colleagues.