Fatal Drug Overdose Risks of Health Care Workers in the United States
Authors: Evan Wood, Paxton Bach
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2024)

LettersFebruary 2024Fatal Drug Overdose Risks of Health Care Workers in the United StatesEvan Wood, MD, PhD, and Paxton Bach, MD, MScEvan Wood, MD, PhDUniversity of British Columbia and British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Paxton Bach, MD, MScUniversity of British Columbia and British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/L23-0471 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR: We read with interest Olfson and colleagues' study (1) showing the elevated risk for fatal drug overdose faced by health care workers. We agree that their findings highlight the need to identify and intervene on those who are at highest risk for overdose death.Although the study nicely describes the occupational risks for substance use disorders in health care workers, the Discussion section falls short in simply highlighting that health care workers with opioid use disorder should be offered “medications for opioid use disorder that have been demonstrated to reduce all-cause and drug-related deaths” (1). Specifically, considerable ...References1. Olfson M, Cosgrove CM, Wall MM, et al. Fatal drug overdose risks of health care workers in the United States. A population-based cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2023;176:1081-1088. [PMID: 37549391] doi:10.7326/M23-0902 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Beletsky L, Wakeman SE, Fiscella K. Practicing what we preach—ending physician health program bans on opioid-agonist therapy. N Engl J Med. 2019;381:796-798. [PMID: 31461593] doi:10.1056/NEJMp1907875 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Ross CA, Jakubec SL, Berry NS, et al. The business of managing nurses' substance-use problems. Nurs Inq. 2020;27:e12324. [PMID: 31729077] doi:10.1111/nin.12324 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Marino RT, Spyres M, Wiegand TJ, et al. ACMT position statement: allow optimal treatment for healthcare professionals with opioid use disorder. J Med Toxicol. 2022;18:71-73. [PMID: 34697778] doi:10.1007/s13181-021-00861-4 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Boyd JW, Knight JR. Ethical and managerial considerations regarding state physician health programs. J Addict Med. 2012;6:243-6. [PMID: 23070127] doi:10.1097/ADM.0b013e318262ab09 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Evan Wood, MD, PhD; Paxton Bach, MD, MScAffiliations: University of British Columbia and British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaDisclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=L23-0471. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoFatal Drug Overdose Risks of Health Care Workers in the United States Mark Olfson , Candace M. Cosgrove , Melanie M. Wall , and Carlos Blanco Fatal Drug Overdose Risks of Health Care Workers in the United States Mark Olfson , Melanie M. Wall , Carlos Blanco Metrics Current IssueFebruary 2024Volume 177, Issue 2KeywordsAddictionAllied health care professionalsHealth care providersMortalityNursesOpioidsPhysiciansSuicideTechnicians ePublished: 20 February 2024 Issue Published: February 2024 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2024 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...