Monitoring impaired physicians: a tool for relapse prevention.

Physicians experience a broad spectrum of health problems which can disrupt their personal lives and impair their ability to function professionally. Some of these illnesses--such as alcoholism and other drug dependency, and certain psychiatric disorders--are chronic. While treatment usually results in remission of active symptoms, there is a risk of relapse if necessary steps are not followed. Therefore, the key to continued recovery and stable functioning lies in effective relapse prevention.