DO starts a COVID-19 support hotline for physicians

Psychiatrist Mona Masood, DO, is the founder and chief organizer of the Physician Support Line, which launched in March to help physicians deal with the stress of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Physicians can call (888) 409-0141 to speak with a licensed psychiatrist. The free, confidential hotline, available nationwide, recently expanded its hours to 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. ET seven days a week.

In an April 28 article on NBC News, Dr. Masood said she realized a hotline for physicians would be beneficial when she began seeing more and more anxious posts about COVID-19 that physicians were posting on social media.

“I was finding a very high occurrence of posts that were about personal mental health,” she told NBC News. “There was day-to-day stress but also anticipatory anxiety about patients and doctors getting sick and bringing it home to their families.”

Related reading:

COVID-19: Maintaining your mental health during a pandemic