Substance Use Disorder among Anesthesia Providers

Abstract

Purpose: To determine if an educational presentation will increase providers' ability to recognize and intent to intervene when confronted with a provider with a possible substance use disorder (SUD). Background: Nurse anesthetists, medical doctor anesthesiologists, and students entering the field need to be aware of the dangers they face in this field concerning SUDs. Awareness and recognition of this deadly issue early in one's career is essential to decreasing the high incidence rate of drug diversion in anesthesia practice. Methods: A descriptive, quantitative approach was used to determine the effectiveness of an in-person education program in achieving the project's outlined goals. In this project, data was gathered utilizing a pre-and post-survey questionnaire. Results: Knowledge-based questions on the pretest demonstrated a poor understanding of the subject with a 33% accuracy rate. Scores on the posttest after the educational presentation increased to 98%. Likert scale responses showed increases of 28%, 26%, and 16% regarding the knowledge of re-entry, ability to recognize an impaired provider, and intent to intervene, respectively. Conclusions: Education and awareness of this topic demonstrate an increased knowledge of substance use disorder in anesthesia providers. Most pertinent to this quality improvement project, it increases their intent to intervene when encountering a provider suspected of suffering from substance use disorder.