Substance Misuse and Drug Diversion in Anesthesiology: Impact of a National Educational Intervention for Nurse Anesthesia Residents and Support People.

Substance misuse and drug diversion among anesthesiology professionals may begin during training and span decades of practice. Because treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) is often delayed, early recognition and structured education are essential. This national quality improvement study evaluated the effect on knowledge, perceptions, and the likelihood of reporting suspected substance misuse. A descriptive, comparative pre-post survey was conducted with resident registered nurse anesthetists and support people recruited from 32 randomly selected U.S. nurse anesthesia programs. The intervention was a dual-perspective presentation that integrated clinical content and lived experience. Pre-post perceptions, knowledge, and reporting intentions were analyzed among matched respondents using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (SAS 9.4; P < .05). Of 1,397 attendees, 868 completed the presurvey and 678 the postsurvey (78.1% retention); 425 were matched for analysis. Significant postintervention improvements were observed in perceptions of SUD as a disease (P = .003), knowledge of safety measures (P < .001), confidence in recognizing symptoms (P < .001), and the likelihood of reporting suspected misuse (P < .001). This national educational intervention was associated with immediate improvements in awareness and reporting intentions, offering a reproducible model for anesthesia education and early prevention.