Nurses Addicted to Substance Abuse (Chemical Addiction)
The American Nurses Association estimates that approximately 6%-8% of nurses may have a problem with substance abuse (Danis 2003). Past history to the present shows that nurses have problems with substance abuse. They often use legal methods such as drug prescriptions to abuse the drugs. Previous studies show that nurses experience high levels of stress when they work in the Emergency Rooms of a hospital or in trauma units. Chemical dependency is a chronic, progressive, and potentially life threatening disease (KPAPN.org 2003). Problems with substance abuse in nurses affect more than the individual, but also the whole work team. The purpose of this paper is to give a history of the problem of substance abuse in nurses as well as the legal, ethical, political, and economic problems stemming from substance abuse among nurses and recognizing the signs of substance abuse in co-workers and helping them to receive intervention for these nurses is vital.
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