Citation

Bossaer JB, Gray JA, Miller SE, Enck G, Gaddipati VC, Enck RE. Acad. Med. 2013; 88(7): 967-971.

Affiliation

Dr. Bossaer is assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Gatton College of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee. Dr. Gray is assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Gatton College of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee. Dr. Miller is assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Gatton College of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee. Mr. Enck is a PhD candidate, Philosophy Department, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, and integrated medical ethics fellow, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Mr. Gaddipati is an internal medicine resident, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Enck is professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Association of American Medical Colleges, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/ACM.0b013e318294fc7b

PMID

23702522

Abstract

PURPOSE: Prescription stimulant use as "cognitive enhancers" has been described among undergraduate college students. However, the use of prescription stimulants among future health care professionals is not well characterized. This study was designed to determine the prevalence of prescription stimulant misuse among students at an academic health sciences center. METHOD: Electronic surveys were e-mailed to 621 medical, pharmacy, and respiratory therapy students at East Tennessee State University for four consecutive weeks in fall 2011. Completing the survey was voluntary and anonymous. Surveys asked about reasons for, frequency of, and side effects of nonprescription misuse of prescription stimulants. Given the sensitive material, an opportunity to win one of ten $50 gift cards was used as an incentive. RESULTS: Three hundred seventy-two (59.9%) students completed the survey from three disciplines (47.6% medical, 70.5% pharmacy, and 57.6% respiratory therapy). Overall, 11.3% of responders admitted to misusing prescription stimulants. There was more misuse by respiratory therapy students, although this was not statistically significant (10.9% medicine, 9.7% pharmacy, 26.3% respiratory therapy; P = .087). Reasons for prescription stimulant misuse included to enhance alertness/energy (65.9%), to improve academic performance (56.7%), to experiment (18.2%), and to use recreationally/get high (4.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Prescription stimulant misuse was prevalent among participating students, but further research is needed to describe prevalence among future health care workers more generally. The implications and consequences of such misuse require further study across professions with emphasis on investigating issues of academic dishonesty (e.g., "cognitive enhancement"), educational quality, and patient safety or health care quality.

Language: en