title: Psychiatrists with substance use disorders: positive treatment outcomes from physician health programs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to compare outcomes of psychiatrists and nonpsychiatrist physicians enrolled in state physician health programs for substance use disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study used the data set from a five-year, longitudinal cohort study of 904 physicians, including 55 psychiatrists, with diagnoses of substance abuse or dependence consecutively admitted to one of 16 state physician health programs between 1995 and 2001.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a higher proportion of women among psychiatrists than among other physicians, but there were no other significant differences between the cohorts. Five-year outcomes were similar between psychiatrists and the other physicians, with at least 75% of psychiatrists continuing their medical practice after five years of monitoring and treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Psychiatrists were not overrepresented compared with other physician groups and had similar clinical outcomes at the five-year follow-up. Physician health programs appeared to be effective treatment programs for psychiatrists with substance use disorders.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Yellowlees, Ms. Burke Parish, and Dr. Scher are with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and Dr. Rose is with the Department of Emergency Medicine, all at University of California Davis, Sacramento (e-mail: peter.yellowlees@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu ). Dr. Campbell and Dr. DuPont are with the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc., Rockville, Maryland. Dr. Ferrer is with the Department of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Skipper is with Promises Professionals Evaluation and Treatment Programs, Santa Monica, California.
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Yellowlees
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burke Parish
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ferrer
authors.forename: Lorin M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Scher
authors.forename: Gregory E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Skipper
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: DuPont
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010815:Physician Impairment / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology