[MaysonL]

Interesting side note: anesthesiology has the highest substance abuse rate of any medical specialty: over 25% will experience abuse at some point in their career.

from http://www.vice.com/read/the-first-fentanyl-addict

"Roughly 10 to 14 per cent of all physicians will be substance-dependent over their lifetime, and the incidence in anesthesia providers is 2.5 times higher than other physicians, according to a five-year outcome study from 16 physician health programs in the US."

[Broken_Hippo]

I have read that before and I still find it intriguing. I know the rates are high with nursing as well.

I often think it has something to do with the work or work environment when there are such trends, and start working to figure out why or if anything relieves it.

[gonehome]

I'd suspect in the case of anesthesia it's just a matter of having easy repeat access to opiates.

[Broken_Hippo]

That would help to keep addiction going, sure - and it is much the same as a nurse getting addicted to opiates (albeit in a different form).

But I'd expect the trend to trickle down to pharmacists and pharmacy techs, who handle the drugs quite often. It does happen, but I don't know if it happens as much as physicians.

The main curiosity to me is what leads these professions to develop a substance abuse problem in the first place? It isn't just opiates: If I remember correctly, nurses have a high rate of alcoholism. I nearly always have access to alcohol, and I don't drink regularly. Access in itself isn't nearly enough to cause addition or even use.