TY - JOUR T1 - The treatment of substance abuse as a context for teaching professionalism JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 957 LP - 957 VL - 54 IS - 509 AU - Jane H Roberts Y1 - 2004/12/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/54/509/957.abstract N2 - There are few environments as personally and professionally challenging as a general practice that registers only patients (and their children) with a substance abuse problem. The surgery where I work as a salaried GP is one of two such practices on Teesside offering general medical services to about 1400 patients registered with one of two GPs and a team of clinical nurse specialists. The premises are dilapidated and cramped, but staff morale is high. Medical challenges abound. A ‘typical’ morning might include assessing a client newly discharged from prison and already addicted again; infant immunisations; the story of a teenager who raised her siblings when her mother walked out and who started selling drugs in order to buy food for the family; a lad with regular seizures who … ER -