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Addicted Health Care Professionals: How Can A Recovery Center Help Your Loved One Get Well?

22 June 2015

Edward Payne

If your loved one is a surgeon who has an addiction to drugs or alcohol, contact a recover center for help. Alcohol and drug addiction is on the rise in health care. Over 100,000 health care professionals have some form of drug addiction. Many of these professionals have high-profile careers as doctors, surgeons and anesthesiologists. If your loved one doesn't receive help and beat their addiction, they may place patients and their careers at risk. Here are three ways a recovery center may help your loved one get well.

Uncover the Root or Source of the Addiction

Health care in one of the most stressful professions in the United States. Although hospitals, clinics and medical facilities take steps to minimize the stress placed on their staff, a number of medical professionals may turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with the duties they perform each day. As a result, they may make dangerous decisions and mistakes during patient care.

The recovery center may try to find the main cause of your loved one's addiction by evaluating their ability to cope with the stress they may be under at work. In most cases, health care professionals who use drugs may face extreme challenges at work, as well as between shifts, that hinder their ability to cope well. 

For instance, the center may ask your loved one if they:

• Handle large patient loads during their shifts
• Work long, tiring hours with very little break time in between shifts
• Eat in between shifts or not at all
• Sleep between shifts or stay awake 

If your loved one answers yes to questions like those above, they may be more susceptible to using drugs as coping mechanisms for them. The drugs calm your loved one's nerves before, during or after work. In some incidences, the drugs may help your loved one stay awake or focus during surgery, patient care or staff operations. After awhile, your loved one may use the drugs when they don't have to work. They've become addicted.

Provide Treatment 

After the recovery center uncovers the underlying causes for the addiction, your loved one may receive treatment, such as drug detoxification. Detoxification refers to the removal of drugs from the body. However, the extent of detox treatment may depend on the type of drugs your loved one uses.

For example, narcotics and prescription drugs that treat extreme pain, insomnia, anxiety and depression may take longer to remove from the system than alcohol or some street drugs. Some controlled pain narcotics may contain higher dosages of opiates than the drugs found on the street.

In any type of detox treatment, you may expect your loved one to experience a number of physical and mental withdrawal symptoms that may upset, anger or frustrate them. The symptoms may include vomiting, headaches, hallucinations, and body tremors.

You can support your loved one during the detoxification period by simply being there. If you want to do more for your loved one during the detox, ask the center for tips and advice on how to comfort your loved one.

However, if your loved one asks you to take them home before they complete the treatment, consult with the drug rehab center right away. Drug addicted people may try to play on your emotional attachment to them in order to avoid their treatment. Additionally, your loved one may attempt to make you feel guilty for bringing them to the center in the first place.

After the treatment completes, the center may wish to monitor your loved one to make sure they don't relapse with their addiction. In this case, you may continue supporting the person by driving them to the center whenever possible. 

If you want to know more about drug addiction for medical professionals, click here to continue reading more about it or contact the recovery center immediately.

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