Substance Abuse Among Nurses

I would like to take this chance to accept this open door to attract thoughtfulness regarding an imperative issue in the nursing community. It's not regularly raised or discussed, but rather it’s developing commonness is disturbing. I am discussing substance misuse among medical professionals, specially among nurses and particularly the mishandle of opioid pharmaceuticals. “Every day, thousands of nurses’ struggle with substance abuse, a problem that can be invisible to their friends, family, and colleagues” (Telusca et al., 2015). These problems are particularly troubling in a provider population, as they can lead to serious safety issues for the patients’ nurses treat while under the influence.

Nursing is a very demanding job and can have an overall impact on the nurse both mentally and physically. Specifically within the critical care environment, nurses are more likely at risk for developing job burnout, due to the intense nature of their work. Job burnout is a type of job stress in which the state of physical, emotional or mental exhaustion is combined with doubts about the competence and value of your work, (Mayo Clinic, 2015). The specific burnout that the nurse may be experiencing is not only affecting them, but also their patient they are looking after. It is critical for us, as nurses, to be able to recognize the warning signs of burnout and find ways in which to take steps in order to address them, in order to improve the

This growing epidemic needs to stop for a number of reasons. The number one priority is the patient’s safety. Some other reasons would be the safety of the nurse, the costs that tie into this, and the wasted time trying to figure out what is missing. There are numerous reasons as to why nurses fall victim to substance abuse and addiction. Some reasons are working stress, easy access to medications, and being workaholic.

Nurses, who hold a history of emotional damage, drug use, alcoholism, or emotional mistreatment in the family, may result in a low self-worth of the individual. Overload of work and over success is at a greater risk for abusing substances. A stressful environment in the workplace is another factor that can lead to alcohol dependence. The demands of healthcare are on the rise, from the nursing shortage of staffing, increase in higher acuity patients, and working overtime can lead to stress and alienation. Nurses can be more drawn to turn to alcohol abuse in ways of coping with the stress.

This growing epidemic needs to stop for a number of reasons. The first priority is the safety of the patients. The other reasons would be the safety of the nurse, the costs that tie into this, and the wasted time trying to figure out what is not accounted for. There are numerous reasons as to why nurses fall victim to substance abuse and addiction. Some of the main reasons are the following: job stress, easy access to medications, and being workaholic.

This stress makes nurses vulnerable to substance abuse. Abusing substances is a coping mechanism for nurses to deal with stress (Wright et al., 2012). Being overworked due to a shortage of staff, high patient acuity, rotating shifts, being assigned to different units in a shift are just some causes of stress for a nurse. Trinkoff and Storr (as cited in National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2011, p. 17) state that “the more adverse the schedule was, the greater the likelihood there would be substance abuse.” Nursing is an occupation where emotions tend to run high and can lead to emotional fatigue. Emotional fatigue can also be due to a strained relationship between co-workers and supervisors/managers.

Some of the reasons why nurses turn to substances for relief include; emotional impairment, drug use, alcoholism, and emotional abuse due to low self-esteem, overachievement, and overwork(Dunn, 2005). The environment in which a nurse works can have a great impact on how the nurse deals with the stressors of work. A nurse’s home environment can also have an effect on the nurse’s risk of substance abuse. A nurse is helping troubled family members either in a positive or negative effect. An example of a negative environment for the patient would be one in which the family is enabling the nurses addiction.

Nurses can lower their risk of needle stick injuries by not recapping the needle, placing the used needle in the sharps container and using needles where the needle is retracted back after the medication is injected. Nurses can experience injuries from hazardous drugs. Nurses that have to administer hazardous drugs daily are at an increased risk for experiencing problems from the drugs. Studies have shown that workplace exposures to hazardous drugs can cause both acute and chroni... ... middle of paper ... ...ld: Healthy Work Environment. (2013).

Nursing is a career that is currently booming due to the current nursing shortage, however, the job comes with risks like every other job. A major one being diseases obtained through their work. These diseases can be a short or long term event, and are caused by a variety of problems. Imagine having a child in a hospital that is understaffed, the child is not given the care he requires because nurses are working so much that they are getting sick, which is leaving the hospital even more understaffed. Nurses are more susceptible to diseases because of understaffing, lack of caution and improper infection control precautions; these can be solved by training more nurses, as well as by frequently retraining proper infection control precautions.

The patient has a reasonable expectation to receive safe and competent care. The influence of drugs and alcohol greatly deteriorate the judgment and skills of any good nurse. Increased patient workload, long hours, personal stress, and sleep deprivation put many nurses in a position to self-medicate. It is my position that high-risk specialty employees undergo drug testing in order to be held accountable and help keep their patients and themselves safe from harm.