Recovering substance-impaired pharmacists' views regarding occupational risks for addiction

Objective: To better understand the occupational risks for substance use disorders among pharmacists and possibilities for improved prevention. Design: Descriptive, nonexperimental, cross-sectional study. Setting: A southeastern state from December 2008 to April 2009. Participants: 32 participants (72.7% men) from the impaired professionals monitoring groups in the geographic regions within the state that had the greatest number of physicians, pharmacists, and allied health professionals currently under monitoring contracts for substance use disorders. Intervention: Guided group discussions regarding substance use among health care providers. Main outcome measures: Persistent occupational risks for development of a substance use disorder among pharmacists. Results: Several occupational hazards unique to the pharmacy profession might contribute to the problem of substance use disorders among some members of this population, including increased access to potent drugs of abuse, a stressful/unpleasant working environment, a culture that unofficially condones medication diversion, lack of education related to addiction, and lack of support for individuals seeking treatment. Conclusion: These results have important implications for the education of student pharmacists, the continuing education of licensed pharmacists, and the management of pharmacies in which these individuals work. Given the potential occupational risks for substance abuse associated with the pharmacy profession, additional training, monitoring, changes to the work environment, and increased confidential access to treatment may be needed to safeguard pharmacy professionals and the communities they serve.