Dr. Joshi is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Associate Director, Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship, Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, South Carolina. Dr. Jones is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Adjunct Associate Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Director, General Psychiatry Residency, Prisma Health, Columbia, South Carolina.
Disclosures Dr. Joshi reports no financial relationships with any companies whose products are mentioned in this article, or with manufacturers of competing products. Dr. Jones receives financial compensation from Alpha Genomix Laboratories for her clinical time as a Principal Investigator on a study related to pharmacogenomics.
We should provide the same confidentiality considerations to physician-patients as we do to other patients. However, at times, we may need to break confidentiality for safety concerns or reporting that is required by law. We may have to contact a state licensing board if a physician-patient continues to practice while impaired despite engaging in treatment.1 We should understand the procedures for reporting; have referral resources available for these patients, such as recovering physician programs; and know whom to contact for further counsel, such as risk management or legal teams.1
The best way to provide optimal psychiatric care to a physician colleague is to acknowledge the potential challenges at the onset of treatment, and work collaboratively to avoid the potential pitfalls during the course of treatment.
