Exposure to Anesthetic May Promote Addiction: Study Shows Anesthesiologists Are Exposed to Fentanyl despite Its Intravenous Administration

Splete, Heidi, Clinical Psychiatry News

WASHINGTON -- Exposure to fentanyl in the operating room may fuel the consistently high rates of substance abuse among anesthesiologists, Mark S. Gold, M.D., reported at the annual conference of the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse.

Although substance use problems among physicians receive more attention than they did in the past, few studies have examined possible prognostic factors, said Dr. Gold, chief of addiction medicine at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

When ether, chloroform, and nitrous gas were used, anesthesiologists would keep track of their mental status because they knew there was a danger of secondhand exposure. What they don't know is that the risk remains despite the use of intravenous analgesics, he said at the conference, also sponsored by Brown Medical …

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Publication information: Article title: Exposure to Anesthetic May Promote Addiction: Study Shows Anesthesiologists Are Exposed to Fentanyl despite Its Intravenous Administration. Contributors: Splete, Heidi - Author. Magazine title: Clinical Psychiatry News. Volume: 32. Issue: 12 Publication date: December 2004. Page number: 46. © 2009 International Medical News Group. COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group.

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