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Life sciences · Journal article
Journal of Hospital Administration · July 31, 2026
Early or partial results. Treat as a signal, not a conclusion.
This is a single-centre, uncontrolled quality improvement report describing the feasibility and yield of embedding standardized mental-health screening (PHQ-9 and GAD-7) into mandatory residency induction at a teaching hospital in Mexico City. The screening identified probable depression in 11.0%, anxiety in 11.2%, and self-harm endorsement in 6.0%, with 75% of high-risk residents evaluated within 72 hours; institutional acceptability was high. The study demonstrates operational feasibility but does not measure clinical outcomes, harms, or compare outcomes against standard care or no screening.
Single-centre, uncontrolled quality improvement implementation study. All incoming medical residents at a national high-specialty public teaching hospital in Mexico City, Mexico, during the 2024 induction cohort; no reported exclusion criteria.. Intervention: Systematic mental-health screening protocol embedded into mandatory residency induction: 30-minute digital administration of PHQ-9 and GAD-7, with automatic flagging of critical results and proactive outreach by liaison psychiatry within 7…. n = 201. Mexico City, Mexico; single centre (one national high-specialty public teaching hospital)..
Of 214 incoming residents, 201 completed screening (93.9% response rate) Probable depressive disorder (PHQ-9 ≥10) identified in 11.0% (22/201) Probable anxiety disorder (GAD-7 ≥10) identified in 11.2% (23/201)
No long-term clinical outcomes reported; study measures only feasibility, yield, and appointment attendance, not symptom resolution or occupational harms prevented. Source does not report data on residents who did not attend appointments, reasons for non-attendance, or clinical characteristics of those screened; no analysis of potential harms or false-positive burden.
This report demonstrates that systematic mental-health screening at induction is operationally feasible and identifies substantial hidden psychiatric morbidity in trainee physicians. However, the absence of a control group, long-term follow-up data, or measured clinical outcomes (e.g., symptom improvement, dropout prevention, safety events) means clinicians cannot yet determine whether screening and rapid referral improve residents' wellbeing, reduce adverse outcomes, or justify resource investment compared with standard care.
Single-centre quality improvement implementation study with feasibility and descriptive outcomes, lacking a comparator group and powered hypothesis testing; demonstrates operational feasibility but not clinical efficacy.
As stated by the source record.
Quoted from the source exactly as published.
This report demonstrates that systematic mental-health screening at induction is operationally feasible and identifies substantial hidden psychiatric morbidity in trainee physicians. However, the absence of a control group, long-term follow-up data, or measured clinical outcomes (e.g., symptom improvement, dropout prevention, safety events) means clinicians cannot yet determine whether screening and rapid referral improve residents' wellbeing, reduce adverse outcomes, or justify resource investment compared with standard care.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
Objective: Incoming medical residents show high rates of depression and anxiety that threaten occupational health, workforce continuity, and patient safety, yet most hospital induction programs lack systematic screening before clinical exposure. We evaluated the feasibility, yield, acceptability, and referral outcomes of an institutional quality-improvement program that embedded standardized mental-health screening into mandatory residency induction and triggered a time-sensitive referral pathway. Methods: A 30-minute screening protocol was implemented during the 2024 induction at a national high-specialty public teaching hospital in Mexico City, Mexico. Incoming residents completed the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 anonymously through a digital form. Critical results (either score 10 or a positive suicidality item) triggered proactive outreach by the liaison psychiatry service within 72 hours. Outcomes were participation rate (feasibility), organizational acceptability (survey), instrument reliability, symptom yield, and adherence to the referral pathway. Results: Of 214 incoming residents, 201 completed the screening (93.9% response rate). Probable depressive disorder (PHQ-9 10) was identified in 11.0% and probable anxiety disorder (GAD-7 10) in 11.2%. Twelve residents (6.0%) endorsed a positive self-harm item, of whom 75% were evaluated in person within 72 hours; overall, 74% of the 35 flagged high-risk residents attended a clinical appointment within the first month. Institutional utility was rated high by 92% of participants. Internal consistency of both instruments was high (Cronbach = 0.84 and 0.86). Conclusions: Integrating systematic mental-health screening into hospital induction is a low-resource, high-yield operational strategy that identifies hidden psychiatric morbidity and ensures rapid clinical triage, establishing a scalable model for hospital workforce risk management.
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