KEY POINTS:
Some female GPs have installed panic buttons under their desks because of intimidation from male patients seeking drugs.
The fear many female GPs felt when confronting drug-seeking patients had been identified in a Ministry of Health-funded study, New Zealand Doctor magazine reported yesterday.
Female GPs said they felt vulnerable when interviewing male patients, often much bigger than them, behind the closed doors of their offices, and some had installed panic buttons.
The emotional impact of such a confrontation could be significant.
The study's researchers, from Auckland University, said the limited supply of heroin and cocaine in New Zealand made GPs a target for drug supply.
Drugs most requested by drug seekers were opiates such as codeine, morphine or methadone.
Only 17 GPs were interviewed in the study, but they agreed that identifying patients who were lying about their symptoms was difficult.
Some drug seekers fitted the stereotype of a drug abuser, having a scruffy appearance and rude behaviour, but many were skilled at deception.
They could be polite and tidy, and had to be identified through patterns in their behaviour.
- NZPA
