Prevalence and pattern of substance use and misuse among anesthesia health-care personnel in Jordan

ABSTRACT

Anesthesiologists are more prone to drug misuse and abuse compared to other health-care professionals. There has been no literature published regarding this issue in the Middle East. Therefore, this study was conducted to provide a background regarding drug abuse and misuse among anesthesia personnel in Jordan. A cross-sectional self-reported survey was constructed to target anesthesia personnel of all levels who were working at different hospitals in Jordan. A total of 94/113 respondents filled out the questionnaire. They were mainly males (83.2%) and between 26 and 35 years old. A total of 21 (18.6%) respondents reported using some prescription or OTC drugs for nonmedical reasons. Majority of which were residents (57.1%) compared to (33.3%) consultants and (9.5%) technicians. Only 9.1% of our sample knew the correct difference in definition between “abuse” and “misuse”. Self-prescribed opioids were mentioned by six anesthesia personnel (6.4%), and two respondents (1.7%) stated the use of opioids for non-medical reasons. The study highlights the importance of more regulatory efforts to protect anesthesia personnel from substance use disorder, along with the need of deepening awareness among the specialty newcomers, in the field of drug abuse and misuse.

KEYWORDS:

• Abuse
• anesthesiologists
• healthcare professionals
• Jordan
• substance use disorder

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Deanship of Academic Research, University of Jordan [Grant for Msc. student number 8150158].