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While the WHO has already published its mental health and psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been almost no discussion of the specific measures that healthcare institutions should take with regard to the mental health of healthcare practitioners. We would like to take this occasion to propose a perspective on this matter from research on social support. Social support can be classified in various ways such as informational, appraisal, instrumental, and emotional. When battling an unknown virus such as this one, having correct informational support is necessary above all else. It is also important that appropriate evaluation for the contribution of practitioners in the institutions as appraisal support. Instrumental support, meanwhile, refers to guaranteeing a system where practitioners can get adequate rest and not excessively strain themselves, and emotional support is when practitioners are shown adequate understanding and appreciation by those around them. There is another view that categorizes social support by how it is given and received: received support and perceived support. It is important for practitioners to receive perceived support, because perceived support is confirmed to have a positive effect on physical and mental health. For the sake of the physical and mental health of healthcare practitioners, it is important for healthcare sites and organizations to take social support into account and for healthcare institutions to adopt the perspective of social support in their day-to-day operations.

Background To date, the clinical features between patients in Japan who have attempted suicide by charcoal burning and those who have attempted suicide by other methods in the context of a mental disorder diagnosis as assessed by structured interviews have not been reported. Methods We enrolled 647 consecutive patients who attempted suicide and were hospitalized for inpatient treatment. Psychiatric diagnoses, frequency of suicide attempts, and clinical features were compared between charcoal burning and other suicide methods. Results Twenty of the 647 patients (3.1%) had attempted suicide by charcoal burning. The ratio of men to women was significantly higher by this method compared with that of other methods. The proportion of patients with mood disorders was significantly higher in the charcoal burning group than that in the other methods group. The occurrence of a psychiatric history in patients in the charcoal burning group was significantly lower than that in the other methods group. Limitations The study sample was limited to a single hospital. Conclusions The results demonstrate the clinical characteristics of patients who attempted suicide by charcoal burning. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the clinical features of patients who have attempted suicide by charcoal burning in Japan.