Drug Abuse in Nursing
Nurses and other medical professionals are tasked with taking care of their patients, of healing the body and saving lives. It is the job of these healthcare workers to literally stay death and make the individual well again. They are life givers and life savers. Every day, nurses and doctors have to go to work knowing that they will witness some sort of despair and trauma. A nurse must be both compassionate and competent. They must feel for the patient, but they must also remain emotionally distant enough that they can still do their job accurately and efficiently, otherwise the staff metaphorically bleeds for everyone who is physically doing so. This profession leads men and women into high-stress situations wherein poor choices can be made. If the individual is able to release their stress in healthy manners such as time with family or hobbies, they are able to function continually without detrimental effects. However, some people respond to the high stress of the medical profession by turning to self-destructive behaviors. Some individuals succumb to alcohol, others to gambling or promiscuity. Others succumb to the dangers of drug abuse, often using the narcotics which are available to them inside the hospital.
According to Hrobak (2001), "Chemical dependency in nursing is defined as a state of psychological and/or physical addiction to a chemical substance or substances. Use of the substances, whether legally or illegally obtained, leads to a professional's inability to perform duties and responsibilities according to nursing standards." The prevalence of drug abuse in the nursing profession first came to the attention of the American Nurses' Association (ANA) in the middle 1980s. Research conducted in 1984 revealed that 8-10% of nurses admitted to having an alcohol dependency and 2-3% admitted to be dependent on drugs (Gnadt 2006,-page 151). In the modern time period, this number has increased exponentially. Approximately 10% of nurses are currently addicted to some sort of drug (Copp 2009). Whereas the most frequently abused drug is alcohol, prescription drugs are also frequently abused. Among these are amphetamines, opiates, sedatives, tranquilizers, and inhalants. Not only do nurses in the United States indulge in drug use, but the problem has escalated to a worldwide epidemic.
In the early 1980s, 48 states began investigating the percentages of nurses who are currently or have in the past abused drugs and alcohol. The ANA also became interested in formulating and implementing testing and possible methods of rehabilitation for nurses who were addicted (Monroe 2008,-page 156). Drug abuse among nurses and other medical care professionals is an extremely hazardous issue. Besides the danger to the individual him or herself, there is the consideration that drug addiction is a breach of professional ethics, places patients at severe risk when being treated by someone who is under the care of someone who is under the influence, and can affect the reputations of the individual as well as the facility where they work (Copp 2009). The use of drugs in the medical profession is an important subject to be understood and those suffering from addiction must be treated as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Researchers have tried to locate the exact correlation between substance abuse and nurses. By locating what triggers drug dependency, it is hoped that alterations can be made within the profession to alleviate the problem. One interesting conclusion that researchers were able to divine from statistics was that nurses were far more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs than other members of the medical profession, such as doctors or surgeons (Raistrick 2008,-page 57). In order to find out which were nurses were most susceptible to falling into the depths of drug addiction, researchers Matthew Shaw and his colleagues (2003) examined age, race, gender, specialty within the medical profession, familial history of substance abuse, and the access of prescription drugs within the hospital to look for a pattern that could potentially eliminate future self-destructive behaviors. Shaw's group of investigators and researchers began their enquiry into drug addiction and nursing with three possible hypotheses for why nurses engaged so frequently in drug abuse. These were:
1. Given that physicians often have greater financial and legal resources, often work alone instead of in teams, and can self-prescribe, their addictions will be more severe than nurse by the time they enter the treatment program;
2. Given that nurses often work in care giving roles and more collaborative environments, they will participate in the treatment...
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