Mobilizing the Medical Community to Put an End to Physician Suicide
ASK
About one million Americans lose their physician to suicide each year. Physicians have the highest suicide rate of any profession—and more than twice that of the general population. The Physicians Foundation sought to help raise greater awareness about the physician suicide epidemic, destigmatize the negativity around physicians seeking help and provide physicians the tools to attend to their own wellbeing.
ANSWER
JPA conceived and launched Vital Signs: Attend to Your Wellbeing, which empowered physicians, their colleagues and loved ones, to check on one another’s wellbeing. To achieve this goal, JPA implemented a comprehensive media and partner strategy that directed people to a website with warning signs and a conversation starter toolkit.
During the launch month, The Physicians Foundation website users were 132% greater than the monthly average, sessions were 128% higher and pageviews were 79% greater. Additionally, 20+ county and state medical societies were activated to share the campaign with their constituents; the Foundation’s President had two interviews with The Wall Street Journal to inform a feature; and two op-eds were published and promoted in KevinMD and the Hartford Courant. Within three months, the campaign reached over 213K physicians, a 42% increase compared to our original objective.
