Surgeons' Mental Distress and Risks After Severe Complications Following Radical Gastrectomy

Surgeons' Mental Distress and Risks After Severe Complications Following Radical Gastrectomy in China: a Nationwide Cross-Sectional Questionnaire

Surgeons experience higher levels of work stress, even under normal circumstances. Many can suffer from substantial levels of mental health issues, especially when faced with severe complications. However, due to a variety of reasons, many surgeons are reluctant to disclose mental health issues or seek psychological help.

Gastric cancer is the fifth most common malignancy globally and accounts for the fourth leading cause of death from cancer. In China specifically, gastric cancer is a major public health issue, with some 400,000 new cases diagnosed every year. Of those cases, more than 80% patients are at advanced stages when diagnosed. At present, radical gastrectomy is considered the standard approach for patients with resectable advanced gastric cancer. Severe complications following radical gastrectomy ranged from 2.7% to 9.4% worldwide. In addition to delaying patients' recovery courses, severe complications also place enormous pressure on chief surgeons who performed the operations. Such pressures may bring great risks of psychological distress.

Surgeons are also the victims when they encounter severe complications following radical gastrectomy. Their mental distress should not be minimized. Until now, little has been known about the effects of surgical complications on surgeons. In the current study, based on a large-scale questionnaire survey in China, the investigators aimed to investigate incidences of surgeons' mental distress following severe complications after radical gastrectomy. The investigators also aimed to identify independent risk factors which could help develop strategies to improve the mental well-being of these surgeons after such incidences.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Mental Health
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Severe complications following radical gastrectomy

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 1000

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• China
  • Shanghai
    • Shanghai, Shanghai, China, 200032
      • Recruiting
      • Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University
      • Contact: HONGYONG HE, MD; Phone Number: 15021383022; Email: he.hongyong@zs-hospital.sh.cn

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Enrolled as many surgeons as possible within the research time

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• General and/or gastrointestinal surgeons who experienced severe complications after radical gastrectomy.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Other conditions that do not meet the inclusion criteria.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Surgeons' mental health	The clinical features collected in the questionnaire relating to the surgeons' mental distress included: i) feeling burnout, anxiety, or depression; ii) avoiding radical gastrectomy or feeling stress, slowing down the process during radical gastrectomy operations; iii) having physical reactions, including heart pounding, trouble breathing, or sweating while recalling; iv) having urges to quit being a surgeon; v) taking psychiatric medications; and vi) seeking psychological counseling. Meeting any one of the above six clinical features was regarded as having mental distress; Meeting ore or two was defined as mild mental distress, and meeting three or more was defined as severe mental distress.	June 01, 2023 to August 31, 2024.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 9, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 21, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): March 23, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): November 22, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 20, 2023
• Last Verified: November 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: Zhongshan-HHY-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No