Impaired Nurses
Impaired nurses are considered the victims of chemical substance abuse such as alcohol, narcotics, drugs or any other substances that support mood alteration. Every year approximately twenty percent of the nursing population is reported to be under the influence of drugs and mood altering substances in the work place. Impaired nurses can be a serious threat posing potential risks to the health and care of the patients and thus require special attention and assessment
Various informative material and resource manuals are available on the Internet for identifying, assessing, preventing, investigating, and reporting procedures of nurses who are afflicted by serious dependency on chemical substances. In order to protect the general public from the influence of impaired nurses, various nursing organizations have come up to identify and recognize the symptoms and behavioral patterns. These organizations are empowered by the law to suspend the license of the impaired nurses and determine the penalty level. Based on the written documents provided by the advocates of the rehabilitation treatment, the concerned organizations grant probation period during which the performance and the condition of the nurse is monitored. If completely cured, the nurse can then opt to return to the regular professional life. If the tendencies seem to persist, the rehabilitation program is continued.
According to common belief, addiction is a disease that affects the social, physical, and emotional aspects of the addicted person. These aspects can be treated. Thus, it is not desirable that nurses lose their jobs until there is no chance of recovery or no ways that the specific nurse can be taken care of and cured. It is very much possible that impaired nurses can undergo treatment and return to a normal work life. Once cured, it is recommended to carry all the documents and evidence of the treatment program when looking for the next job after the rehabilitation instead of hiding the fact and getting involved in future complications.
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