Risk factors for health care professionals
Doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals may misuse alcohol and other drugs because of the demands of their jobs, which often leave little time for self-care. Many medical professionals also have easy access to addictive prescription medications. These factors can put health care professionals at risk of developing a substance use disorder (SUD).
Here are some of the factors associated with SUD in health care professionals:
Exposure to trauma. In general, people exposed to trauma may have a related risk of substance misuse and other behavioral health issues. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, doctors, nurses, and other health care workers risked their lives to treat millions of people with a highly transmissible virus, many of whom died in their care. A 2021 report from this period found that front-line health care workers were at higher risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that frequently co-occurs with SUD.
Occupational exhaustion, burnout, and other challenges. Health care work in the United States can lead to extreme stress and mental health issues. In September 2020, 76% of health care workers reported exhaustion and burnout (or chronic job-related stress). And among physicians experiencing burnout, 79% said the burnout predated the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health care professionals attribute their burnout to a variety of causes, including:
- Long work hours, many of which are spent on tedious tasks.
- Irregular shifts.
- Physically and mentally taxing labor.
- Exposure to people who are hurting, dying, or dead.
- Greater risk of exposure to disease and violence.
- Lack of control.
- Lack of respect from other staff members.
- Lack of emotional support for grief, loss, and fatigue.
People in all professions sometimes turn to alcohol and other drugs to try to cope with occupational stressors, and health care workers are no exception.
Knowledge of and access to drugs. Some health care workers have told researchers that because they know what drugs can do, they believe they are somehow protected from their addictive properties. One 2001 study found that more than half of physicians in training self-prescribed medications; however, newer research, from 2012, found this type of activity to be rarer.
History or pattern of alcohol and other drug use and mental health diagnosis. Like most people, doctors, nurses, and other health care workers with a family history of alcohol and other drug use and mental illness can be more likely to develop an SUD.
