Did you know that the highest rate of addiction in the workforce is found among doctors and nurses? According to USA Today, “Across the country, more than 100,000 doctors, nurses, technicians, and other health professionals struggle with abuse or addiction, mostly involving narcotics such as Oxycodone and Fentanyl.”  Medical professionals have the highest rate of addiction out of all other professionals. With more than 100,000 doctors in the United States suffering from drug abuse, abusing narcotics such as oxycodone or fentanyl, timely treatment is vital for both the physician and their patients.

Like so many professionals with addictions, medical professionals may have a wide range of reasons to turn to drugs or alcohol. They may be looking for a means to stay awake on an all-day or overnight shift or a way of escaping the stress of a day of hard decisions and upsetting outcomes.  Clearly, the stress involved in caring for the lives of patients under one’s care along with long hours plus consistent physical and emotional demands can overwhelm many.  That’s why doctors and other medical professionals may turn to the stress-reducing, numbing, and adrenaline qualities of addictive drugs.  After all, those drugs are everywhere around them, so the temptation can be difficult to ignore.   Because it’s easier for doctors and nurses to get a hold of these abused drugs, it’s easier for medical professionals to feed their addiction to them.

While doctors, physician assistants, and nurses have a high addiction rate, this group also has a high rate of recovery when they obtain professional inpatient addiction rehabilitation treatment.

Ambrosia Treatment Center accepts private addiction treatment insurance.  Your cost for medical professionals addiction rehabilitation programs maybe nothing.  Check your insurance coverage today.

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The consequences of addiction by physicians and other medical professionals can be devastating.  As dispensing medical care, making life-changing decisions while working under the influence puts the patient’s and doctor’s health and safety at risk.  Medical professionals who decide to get addiction rehabilitation treatment are at an advantage to salvage their careers, health while improving their patient care.  Addiction treatment specifically designed for those in the medical profession is highly successful.

Ambrosia’s Medical Professional Addiction Treatment includes:

• Drug Refusal Skills
• Improve Coping Strategies and Communication Skills
• Positive Work Environment Modification
• Occupation-Specific Interventions
• Management of Drug Access

Doctors and nurses can learn to maintain sobriety through treatment:

• Cue, Trigger, Craving reduction
• Roleplaying
• Workbook Activities
• Experiential Therapy
• Monitoring programs

 

An integral part of recovery is post-treatment via outpatient programs to both help monitor and provide the support you need to stay sober.  Post-treatment programs are more than a support system because you’ll receive advocacy.  And treatment is always confidential and separate from any medical licensure and credentialing bodies.  Ambrosia’s doctors clients receive continued assistance through recovery, which has shown to prevent relapse.  Combining drug management plus long-term contingency contracting is the gold standard in addiction care for doctors.  This can make it possible for medical professionals to continue a medical career while often handling the same commonly abused drugs that have led to their addiction.  You may think of it much like how recovering alcoholics join friends and family at a celebration with alcohol served but abstain from drinking any alcohol themselves.

While many doctors may be concerned, even afraid of seeking addiction treatment because they feel it may be detrimental to their careers, avoiding critical recovery is much riskier.  Where drug abuse leads to ever-rising tolerance levels, more alcohol and increasing doses of the abused drugs must be taken to achieve the same effects and ward off withdrawal symptoms.  Not only will this become noticeable, but the impairments will grow to where an increased risk of failing to perform effectively while under the influence will result in medical malpractice and disciplinary proceedings against one’s medical license.

Why Get Ambrosia’s Addiction Treatment for Medical Professionals

The benefits of seeking addiction treatment as a doctor are obvious:

• Salvage your medical career
• Get your life back and improve your health
• Protect your patients, hospital, and co-workers
• Preserve your reputation
• Maintain your ability to render medical services

As addiction treatment can be highly successful for medical professionals why not take advantage of Ambrosia’s successful track record. Learn more about addiction treatment for doctors and medical professionals from our counselors without any obligation.  All calls and communications are confidential and adhered to HIPPA privacy laws protecting your privacy.

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Medical Professionals Addiction Signs

It is often difficult to recognize drug or alcohol dependence in doctors or nurses because they are generally known to be highly functional addicts. This means that they are able to maintain their career, home life, and substance abuse for a period of time without others noticing.

Common signs of addiction among doctors and nurses include:

• Changing jobs frequently
• Preferring night shifts where there is less supervision and more access to medication
• Falling asleep on the job or in-between shifts
• Volunteering often to administer narcotics to patients
• Anxiousness about working overtime or extra shifts
• Taking frequent bathroom breaks or unexplained absences
• Smelling of alcohol or excessively using breath mints or mouthwash
• Extreme financial, relationship, or family stress
• Glassy eyes or small pupils
• An unusually friendly relationship with doctors that prescribe medications
• Incomplete charting or repeated errors in paperwork

Why Medical Professionals Turn To Drugs and Alcohol Abuse

There are many unique aspects of a doctor or nurse’s profession that makes them more likely than other occupations to form a substance addiction.

One common reason that medical professionals may be tempted to abuse substances such as Fentanyl or Oxycodone is that they have easy access to powerful prescription medications that aren’t properly accounted for as they are administered. They also have an extensive understanding of the effects these substances have on an individual and this may motivate them to try to mimic these sensations in themselves in order to produce a high or euphoria.

Along with their unpredictable and exhausting work hours, medical professionals are required to make spur-of-the-moment decisions regarding their patients’ health and wellbeing. If they feel responsible for a certain outcome or come to regret a choice that was made, this can greatly affect their emotions and mental state, leading to substance abuse.

The Effects Of Addiction In the Medical Workplace

An addicted medical professional is more likely than their non-addicted colleagues to cause an accident in the workplace or neglect patients’ health. They may be distracted on the job or abruptly leave important appointments or surgical procedures to use drugs.

Sometimes I’d be standing in the operating room and it’d look like I had the flu. So I’d excuse myself and I’d run into the bathroom, eat 10 [Tylenols with codeine], and in maybe five or 10 minutes I’d be normal again.

– Richard Ready, former chief resident of neurosurgery at a prominent Chicago hospital, LA Times

Doctors and nurses suffering from addiction are not only putting their own health at risk but also the wellbeing of patients in their care. It may be hard for a medical professional to accept they have an addiction, but the sooner that the addiction is faced head-on, the better. This can help prevent accidents on the job or neglect of important signs of health issues in patients. If you are struggling with addiction contact Ambrosia and get the help you need.  Call now to learn more.

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Doctors, PAs & Nurses First-Class Fast Easy Addiction Treatment Process

 

You’ll get top-notch:

1.  Dedicated Attentive Medical Professionals Treatment Team That Puts Your Recovery First.  Your addiction treatment specialists know what you’re going through. Not because of fancy degrees (which they have), but because they’ve lived it too. You get their full attention with staff-to-patient ratios well below industry standards.
2.  Science-Based Substance-Abuse Treatment Plans for Medical Professionals.  The research we follow and pave can help set new and improved standards for breakthroughs in mental wellness and addiction recovery.
3.  Unweilding Focus On Getting and Staying Sober During and After Treatment.   The Alumni support Ambrosia’s offers is personal and continuous even after you leave and complete your treatment here.  Our support to Alumni clients is life-long.  It’s a way to get connect with your dedicated Alumni Coach and other alumni peers when you’re feeling triggered or just need that extra moral support boost to get through a challenging day.
4.  Easy Confidential Insurance Confirmation.  Private Insurance Covers Treatment.  We work with in-network and PPO insurance.  Check your insurance without any obligation today.

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Simple Process to Get Started

• Start with a friendly call to see if our programs are a great fit.
• Talk with a counselor, likely someone who also struggled with drugs or alcohol addiction before, without any judgment.
• You’ll never be pressured to commit to treatment here.  No worries, we’ll even provide referrals if you’re looking for something else.

Click here to learn more about our leading addiction industry accreditations, success record, treatment programs, & facilities.