some point in their professional careers (Summer, Roark, & McClintock, 1994, pp. 10-13). Indeed, drug addiction occurs among health care professionals at least as frequently as it does among the general population (De Sanctis, 1991, p. 13).
During the 1980s, the subject of physician impairment received considerable public attention. This concern eventually resulted in a series of national studies on substance use in medicine. Ultimately, the work led to the establishment of a Center for the Study of Impaired Professionals at the University of South Florida's Department of Psychiatry.
Some of this research involved surveys of medical students, residents, and practicing physicians. For the most part, these subjects were asked questions relating to substance use, reasons for use, work activities, access to drugs, and substance abuse education. In addition, practicing physicians were asked questions about frequency of prescribing controlled substances, their access to controlled substances in the workplace, and the consequences of drug use (Hughes, Storr, Baldwin Jr., Williams, Conard, & Sheehan, 1992, pp. 311-314).
One such survey conducted by the AMA in 1986 found that of 589 medical students, 36 percent had tried cocaine and 74 percent had smoked marijuana at some point in their lifetime. Moreover, a substantial proportion of the respondents reported using the drugs within the year prior to the survey (i.e., 17 percent and 32 percent, respectively). Among resident physici
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