CHEMICAL-DEPENDENCE IN ANESTHETIC REGISTRARS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW-ZEALAND

The Supervisors of Anaesthetic Training in Australia and New Zealand w ere surveyed and asked to report any cases of chemical dependence from anaesthetic registrars at their hospital from 1981 to 1991. From 83 q uestionnaires there were 65 (78%) returned. There were 14 departments (22%) with experience of one or more cases during this interval. Only five (7%) reported conducting a lecture or tutorial on the problem. Th e departmental reports covered 4425 registrar years of training and th ere were 17 cases reported. Of these, 13 were complete and are conside red in detail. It is estimated that 1.3 % of those who entered anaesth etic training during the interval were recognised to become chemically dependent during their training. Follow-up was available on only six of the 13 registrars and only one was reported to have completed train ing. The results of this survey indicate that chemical dependence is a lready a major health problem amongst anaesthetic registrars in Austra lia and New Zealand.