September 12, 2024
September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and National Physician Suicide Awareness Day (#NPSADay) is observed on Tuesday, September 17.
The day is dedicated to breaking the silence around mental health issues in the medical community, encouraging open dialogue, and taking proactive steps to prevent physician suicide. It serves as both a reminder and a call to action: you must make time to talk, to listen, and to act—so that your colleagues’ struggles don’t escalate into crises.
The MMA is a proud supporter of #NPSADay and is committed to fostering a culture of well-being in the medical profession. This commitment includes prioritizing burnout prevention, ensuring job satisfaction, and promoting the view that seeking mental health support is a sign of strength—not weakness.
The MMA has many resources and activities available to improve professional satisfaction and well-being. The MMA is currently leading a multi-disciplinary effort to create and launch a peer-to-peer education and support campaign. It’s designed to leverage the power of peer-to-peer communication to help break down the stigma in help-seeking. Watch News Now for more information about this work.
This spring, the MMA’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved a comprehensive set of recommendations to accelerate physician well-being across the state. Work is underway now to advance these recommendations. In addition, the MMA actively shares resources aimed at improving physician well-being, including suicide prevention tools, tips for initiating important conversations about mental health, and crisis management strategies. The MMA Foundation also offers free, physician-led suicide prevention training to all MMA members, further underscoring the MMA’s dedication to this critical issue.
The MMA encourages you to recognize #NPSADay by visiting NPSADay.org, where you can find valuable information and discover ways to get involved. It’s essential that we shift the practice landscape to better support our colleagues, reduce burnout, and remove barriers to accessing mental health services.
There are seven key actions you can take to help reduce physician burnout and prevent mental health emergencies:
Learn the vital signs
Encourage mental health reflection
Share suicide prevention resources
Prepare before a crisis
Check in with a colleague
Remove intrusive mental health questions
Create a culture of well-being
Remember, everyone has a role in reducing physician suicide. Take action today—because the health of our community depends on the well-being of its physicians. Learn more at NPSADay.org.
June 26, 2025
Some of the nation’s top experts on vaccinations painted a grim picture of the future of immunizations in Minnesota and the United States, at a June 23 online forum hosted by the MMA.
June 26, 2025
The latest adverse health events data issued by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) on June 24 showed a small increase in preventable errors.
June 26, 2025
On June 18, the MMA joined nearly 100 other state medical associations and healthcare advocacy groups in a joint letter urging HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to “immediately reinstate” the previously appointed members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) within the Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC).