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Healthcare’ s bitter pill: drug deaths
Study finds links between workers’ mental illness, stress and fatalities, plus substances of choice for different professions.
Dr Jennifer Pilgrim
Between 2003 and 2013, nearly five deaths per 1000 employed Australian healthcare professionals were caused by drugs, new research has revealed.
A Monash University study aimed to identify the best approaches to healthcare professionals’ drug use and their mental healthcare needs. The team of researchers analysed drug-caused deaths of physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists and psychiatrists, physiotherapists, pharmacists, paramedics and veterinarians reported to the coroner. The research revealed that between 2003 and 2013, there were 37 drug-caused healthcare professional deaths, on average, each year.
These deaths commonly involved women in their mid-40s with a diagnosis of mental illness, personal and professional stress, and the intent to self-harm. Drugs were sourced from the workplace in nearly a fifth of cases.
Just over half of the deaths recorded were intentional self-harm deaths, followed by unintentional deaths, at about 37 per cent. Mental illness was diagnosed in almost half of the cases, with the majority involving depression. A number of cases reported stressors such as a relationship, or workplace or money issues.
Dr Jennifer Pilgrim, head of the Drug Harm Prevention Unit at Monash University, said the study also found a significant association between specific professions and drugs of choice, and added the research revealed some different trends from those shown in existing literature.
“ For example, nurses, dentists and pharmacists reportedly gravitate towards misuse of opioids; however, in this study, these healthcare professionals misused opioids along with other substances, namely benzodiazepines,” Pilgrim said.
Pilgrim said risk factors for substance abuse by healthcare workers included long hours, stressful jobs, constantly interacting with critically ill and dying patients and residents, and the increased access to drugs. Non-work specific indicators were also prevalent, such as financial and relationship issues. ■
Dementia advocate AOTY nominee
Swaffer, who founded an international advocacy alliance, is South Australian of the year.
Kate Swaffer. Photo: Meg Hansen Photography
Dementia advocate Kate Swaffer has been named South Australia’ s Australian of the Year for helping change the way the world looks at the disease.
Swaffer was diagnosed with dementia just before her 50th birthday, in 2008, but she refused to be defeated by it, instead striving to improve the lives of those who live with the disease.
She is the co-founder and chief executive of Dementia Alliance International, a non-profit global body that represents people with dementia and fights for individual autonomy and inclusion.
Since her diagnosis, Swaffer, from Wattle Park in Adelaide, has completed three degrees, written several books and has begun studying for her PhD.
Aboriginal education leader Patricia Buckskin was named SA Senior Australian of the Year in an awards ceremony that took place at Adelaide Oval. Buckskin, 67, drove the development of the first culturally based education award in Australia and was instrumental in setting up the first public urban Aboriginal school.
The Narrunga Kaurna woman continues to work tirelessly on committees and councils to ensure all children have access to quality education.
Fashion designer Paul Vasileff, who at 26 is lead designer of Paolo Sebastian, was awarded SA Young Australian of the Year.
Vasileff’ s glamorous handmade dresses are stitched in South Australia but stocked in boutiques in New York and Singapore and seen on red carpets around the world.
The winners are eligible for the national Australian of the Year awards in January.
AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR NOMINEES BY STATE AND TERRITORY South Australia: Kate Swaffer, advocate for people living with dementia Australian Capital Territory: Alan Tongue, youth mentor and educator New South Wales: Deng Adut, legal advocate and former refugee Northern Territory: Andrea Mason, Indigenous leader, advocate for families Tasmania: Paul Pritchard, adventurer and disability advocate Victoria: Waleed Aly, broadcaster and academic Western Australia: Arlene Chan, breast cancer researcher Queensland: Alan Mackay-Sim, biomolecular scientist ■
With AAP.
2 agedcareinsite. com. au