Emergency medicine residents' use of psychostimulants and sedatives to aid in shift work.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the frequency that emergency medicine house staff report use of stimulants and sedatives to aid in shift work and circadian transitions.


METHODS
We surveyed residents from 12 regional emergency medicine programs inviting them to complete a voluntary, anonymous electronic questionnaire regarding their use of stimulants and sedatives.


RESULTS
Out of 485 eligible residents invited to participate in the survey, 226 responded (47% response frequency). The reported use of prescription stimulants for shift work is uncommon (3.1% of respondents.) In contrast, 201 residents (89%) report use of caffeine during night shifts, including 118 residents (52%) who use this substance every night shift. Eighty-six residents (38%) reported using sedative agents to sleep following shift work with the most common agents being anti-histamines (31%), nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics such as zolpidem (14%), melatonin (10%), and benzodiazepines (9%).


CONCLUSIONS
Emergency medicine residents report substantial use of several classes of hypnotics to aid in shift work. Despite anecdotal reports, use of prescription stimulants appears rare, and is notably less common than use of sedatives and non-prescription stimulants.
Shy
Bradley D
BD
Department of Emergency Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA. brad.shy@gmail.com
Portelli
Ian
I
Nelson
Lewis S
LS
D002110:Caffeine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003625:Data Collection; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D014481:United States; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D002110:Caffeine