Washington University psychologist Amy Waterman, the study's lead author said that many doctors are willing to get counselled for depression, which could lead them to quitting or even making additional mistakes.
However, majority of the doctors complained that hospitals and other health care organizations didn't offer much assistance in case of providing help to doctors facing stress-related problems.
The survey, which involved 3,171 doctors in St. Louis, Seattle and Canada, had many doctors confessing that they had been involved with a near miss, minor medical error or serious error that could lead to permanent or potentially life-threatening harm.
AP reports that nearly 61 percent of the doctors confessed to feeling increased anxiety about the potential for future mistakes while 44 percent said they became less confident in their job abilities.
In addition, 42 percent of the surveyed experienced sleep problems and 42 percent had a loss in job satisfaction. The survey also found that only 10 percent of the doctors said hospitals offered them sufficient resources for dealing with mistake-related stress.
The research results, which appear in the August edition of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, was prompted by a 1999 report that estimated that at least 44,000 Americans die each year from medical mistakes.
