Wood County Prevention Coalition
Uniting For A Drug-Free Community Since 2004
The opioid crisis and physician burnout: A tale of two epidemics
Steven A. Adelman, MD, Harvard Health Contributor
In April, the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, attended a meeting of the Association of Health Care Journalists. In an exclusive interview with MedPage Today, he shared his mounting concerns about two matters: the impact of burnout on physicians and our society’s current opioid crisis. Dr. Murthy stated that he views physicians as being an essential part of the solution to the epidemic of drug overdoses, which have exceeded motor vehicle accidents as one of the leading causes of death.
Dr. Murthy correctly linked the well-being of health professionals with that of the general public, stating, “As I think about the emotional well-being for our country, I am particularly interested in how to cultivate emotional well-being for healthcare providers. If healthcare providers aren’t well, it’s hard for them to heal the people for whom they are caring.”
As the director of Physician Health Services (PHS), an independent non-profit dedicated to promoting and supporting the health and well-being of some 45,000 physicians and medical students in Massachusetts, I have witnessed first-hand how stress and burnout among practicing physicians may play a role in the opioid epidemic.
In the past, physician health programs across the country focused on assisting doctors with drinking problems, drug addiction, and mental illness. Although these conditions continue to challenge a subset of practicing physicians, the rising tide in the physician health world is occupational stress, burnout, and an overall failure to thrive, which may be both personal and professional. Indeed, a recent study on physician burnout published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings demonstrated that more than half of all physicians are experiencing professional burnout. As burnout increases, satisfaction with work-life balance drops. The data indicate that internists and family medicine physicians, those who prescribe the lion’s share of opioids, are particularly beleaguered — and this conforms to my own experience assisting distressed physicians who are failing to thrive.
Why parents really are right: Teenagers who use alcohol and smoke weed DO get poorer grades
By KATHARINE SHARPE FOR MAIL ONLINE
PUBLISHED: 07:30 EST, 14 June 2016 | UPDATED: 02:00 EST, 15 June 2016
It's something that's long been suspected - and a new study has just confirmed it.
Students who drink beer and smoke weed have worse grades at school, scientists discovered.
Mental health was also found to be affected in students who used both substances as they felt 'less prepared' for education.
This enabled researchers to monitor their alcohol and drug habits, comparing them to school results and any behaviour or mental health issues.
The study found non-white students who reported using both alcohol and marijuana were worse affected academically and behaviourally than white students.
However, white students appeared to be at greater risk of using the substances while at school than those of other ethnic backgrounds.
Lead author of the study and behavioural scientist Dr. Elizabeth D'Amico said that the study showed alcohol and marijuana use were issues that needed to be tackled early on in life, especially in Asian, black and Hispanic students.'One approach may be to increase protective factors such as parental support or the adolescent's ability to resist temptations to use these substances.
'Many youths tend to think that alcohol use has more consequences than marijuana use and therefore view marijuana use as safer than drinking.
'However, they need to better understand the harms of marijuana use, such as the potential effect on their developing brain and how it can affect performance in both adolescence and adulthood.'
Students completed their final surveys in high school after having attended an alcohol and other drug use prevention programme.
However, the researchers noted other factors may have contributed to the results that the surveys did not take into account, including racial discrimination, parental use and where they grew up.
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Kasich signs ‘Good Samaritan’ law
Posted On Wed. Jun 15th, 2016
By: Max Filby The Courier
Nearly seven years after Tony Grotrian’s grandson died of a drug overdose, a bill that may have saved his life has become law.
“It means an awful lot,” Grotrian said.
Gov. John Kasich signed House Bill 110, also known as the “Good Samaritan” bill, into law on Monday with Grotrian beside him. It will take effect in late September.
Under the new law, a person seeking emergency medical services for somebody who is overdosing will not be charged with minor drug offenses.
Grotrian has long thought that his grandson, Aaron Grotrian, 20, may have been with other people when he died of an overdose in August 2009. Grotrian has suggested if the people with his grandson had not feared prosecution, they may have called for help.
“Whatever I have to do to try to save some other family from the grief my family’s gone through,” Grotrian said. “That was my whole goal.”
Grotrian testified in favor of the bill before state officials three times over the past few years.
Grotrian started researching good Samaritan laws in 2011, and in 2013 he contacted state Rep. Robert Sprague about sponsoring such a bill.
Sprague eventually helped craft what was signed into law this week.
“I think it’s a key piece of legislation that’s going to save lives,” Sprague said.
Sprague, a Findlay Republican, has been working to pass a good Samaritan bill for three years. It will become one of several bills designed to fight opiate addiction that Sprague has helped author or support during his time in the Statehouse.
“I’m absolutely thrilled we were finally able to pass it,” Sprague said.
While the law will shield some from prosecution, it won’t grant immunity to drug dealers or people who are under some form of “community control.” Under the law, a person can be granted immunity twice.
The law also allows the names and addresses of people who have overdosed to be shared with police for follow-ups and further investigation, Sprague said.
The bill unanimously passed the Ohio House on May 24, and it passed the state Senate that day by a vote of 23 to 10. Sprague previously credited the bill’s passage in the Senate to state Sen. Cliff Hite, R-Findlay.
Wood County Prevention Coalition Meeting
Friday, Sep 16, 2016, 08:30 AM
Wood County Educational Service Center 1867 N Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH, United States
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
About Us
Our Vision: Helping youth be drug-free, productive and responsible citizens.
Our Mission: We are a coalition of compassionate community members working together to coordinate high quality programs for the prevention of youth substance abuse in Wood County.
Email: mkarna@wcesc.org
Website: wcprevention.org
Location: 1867 Research Drive, Bowling Green, OH, United States
Phone: (419)-354-9010
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCPCoalition
Twitter: @woodpccoalition