The fine line between occupational exposure and addiction to propofol

Abstract

Addiction is considered as an occupational hazard, especially in anesthesia units in hospitals. Professionals in anesthesiol- ogy clinics have easy access to a wide range of potent psychoactive drugs, causing them to have a higher risk of drug abuse compared to other healthcare personnel. Recent studies and case reports have shown that abuse of anesthetic drugs used in these units has become a problem among health professionals, and awareness of the problem has increased. Propofol is widely used in anesthesia as a sedative-hypnotic prescription drug and in the literature, propofol abuse is mostly referred to in connection with medical and paramedical personnel. In this manuscript, we reviewed the pharmaco-kinetics, -dynam- ics effect of propofol, discussed toxicological outcomes of propofol abuse and possible institutional measures to be taken against addiction.