Physician substance abuse: prevention through reeducation.

Physicians may be far more likely than other professionals and the general public to experience problems with drug and alcohol dependence. The availability of drugs, difficulty of detection, reluctance to confront addictive behaviors, unwillingness to admit weakness, and the lack of ways to detect and manage impaired physicians exacerbate the complexities of preventing and treating the problem. This literature review explores the complicating factors and suggests that prevention can be enhanced through medical education, candid disclosure of facts, acceptance, and understanding of substance abuse as a medical disorder.