Drug addicted nurses

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I am a nursing student and in one of my classes we have recently talked about nurses and substance abuse. I think that it is hard for me to wrap my brain around the issue. My questions are:

1. what do you do as a fellow nurse and friend of someone who is involved in substance abuse...especially in the workplace?

2. is this really prevelent and have any of you been put in this position?

Thanks!!

Specializes in ICU.

I look around today, at all the things I have, material and not so material... like my family, my happiness, my health... and then of course my new living room furniture :) haha.. (had to add that) I am sooo proud of myself to be able to go out and buy things. Sometimes I just sit and look around, feeling happy for no reason. It's nice.

Four years ago I barely had a place to live. An apartment in the bad side of town,, dirty old furniture, and no car. I had lost everything little by little in my quest to get and stay high. I turned into some sort of alternate version of myself. Something that I will never go back to.

Now that I see how good life can be,, I will never go back to that place. I want to live and be happy. Everything is not perfect in my life, I still have to work on things, like my nutrition,, exercise, and stuff like that... but I am so proud of where I am right now. I can set short term and long term goals,, and I can meet them and set more.

Heck, I've learned how to use spreadsheet on my computer and I'm doing my household budget.. I can't believe this, but it is actually fun!

I don't know why I am rambling on,, maybe I hope that someone will read all of this and a light will go off in their head,,, and I will be able to help them. Who knows.

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Specializes in Impaired Nurse Advocate, CRNA, ER,.

Research seems to be pointing to genetics as the major component for the development of addiction. Substance abuse can no doubt cause significant problems in a person's life, even kill them (and others around them...DUI, domestic violence, accidents, etc.). But the difference between the addict (loses control over substance use or behaviors...gambling, sex, etc.) and the abuser (eventually has something happens that makes them decide to "get clean"). And right now the estimate for the general public is somewhere between 10 - 15% (depending on the study). The problem with those statistics is the under-reporting associated with the disease of addiction due to the stigma. People get so hung up on the statistics. Who cares if it's 10, 12, or 15%? This is the number one public health problem in this country and the "war" mentality isn't working. We need early recognition, intervention and appropriate treatment...appropriate in length and philosophy. This is a chronic, progressive disease that we are treating as an acute problem that people expect to be "fixed" after one treatment attempt. The person leaves treatment and goes back to the places and people they used with...live in the same toxic family situations, and then everyone is surprised when the addict begins using again. We don't expect that from other chronic, progressive diseases like cancer, CAD, HTN, diabetes, asthma, COPD, etc.

It's clear what we're doing isn't working. If things don't change people will just keep dying...after they ruin themselves and those around them. And the attitude of health care professionals is hindering, not helping the situation. All you have to do is read some of the judgmental, inaccurate, unscientific comments on this web site and other nursing sites to see how much work needs to be done. If nurses and other health care "professionals" can't or won't accept the science that's been discovered over the past 2 and a half decades, how can we expect politicians, police, and the general public change the way they look at this disease.

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big hugs to all of you who have stayed clean and sober. my hubby battled etoh( sober now 5 +) and what most of you guys have said is true it's a chronic battle. daily for him. i also believe the genetics part, his mother, father, brother, and sister (now dead from suicide r/t her use of etoh.) all had or have some type of substance abuse problem.

i guess my question to you all is this, is it possible to recognize the alcoholic/addictive personality type in some people?? in working with my hubby's aa group-he goes pretty much daily, i've had a lot of social interaction with recovering and relapsing alcoholics.

1. i've watched the people in their first year (i'm pretty good at telling who will be there in a year and who won't-something in the attitude and why they're there-are they there for themselves or to be able to drive?). many are ticked off at the world, i'm thinking probably because of the physical withdrawal. many of them have an attitude that the world should be grateful they quit drinking-most don't seem to understand the facts that they are lucky to still be alive, haven't killed anyone or in my hubby's case at that time that he had a place to live. i saw this in my husband. he thought he should be entitled to get his driver's license back early and that the state dmv should make and exception for him because he was sober for three months.

2. he has a friend who is going through the terrible 2's as i call it or read somewhere. he's currently at the stage where he thinks everything is okay again. i see him isolating and pushing his wife away, which is a very dangerous time in my opinion.

3. year three was easier for us, he began to make amends and i quit worrying about his slipping. and years four & five have been better.

there is someone in my school and when we interact, it reminds me so much of how my husband and i interacted back when he was drinking. they also disappear at times, are having extreme highs and lows, lots of anger and seem a little bit in a fog sometimes. it occurred to me earlier that this was like interacting with my husband when he was drinking, that perhaps they're using something.

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Research seems to be pointing to genetics as the major component for the development of addiction. Substance abuse can no doubt cause significant problems in a person's life, even kill them (and others around them...DUI, domestic violence, accidents, etc.). But the difference between the addict (loses control over substance use or behaviors...gambling, sex, etc.) and the abuser (eventually has something happens that makes them decide to "get clean"). And right now the estimate for the general public is somewhere between 10 - 15% (depending on the study). The problem with those statistics is the under-reporting associated with the disease of addiction due to the stigma. People get so hung up on the statistics. Who cares if it's 10, 12, or 15%? This is the number one public health problem in this country and the "war" mentality isn't working. We need early recognition, intervention and appropriate treatment...appropriate in length and philosophy. This is a chronic, progressive disease that we are treating as an acute problem that people expect to be "fixed" after one treatment attempt. The person leaves treatment and goes back to the places and people they used with...live in the same toxic family situations, and then everyone is surprised when the addict begins using again. We don't expect that from other chronic, progressive diseases like cancer, CAD, HTN, diabetes, asthma, COPD, etc.

It's clear what we're doing isn't working. If things don't change people will just keep dying...after they ruin themselves and those around them. And the attitude of health care professionals is hindering, not helping the situation. All you have to do is read some of the judgmental, inaccurate, unscientific comments on this web site and other nursing sites to see how much work needs to be done. If nurses and other health care "professionals" can't or won't accept the science that's been discovered over the past 2 and a half decades, how can we expect politicians, police, and the general public change the way they look at this disease.

I greatly appreciate what you have written, and I agree completely. It's about time the moral stigmas get lifted, and addicts get the help they need to treat their disease like anyone else with any disease. It is just another form of prejudice in my opinion. Thank you again for saying what I believe and know to be true. I have not been working for some time, but I want to go back to work as an RN in this field. I want to do anything I can to help. Krisssy

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Specializes in Impaired Nurse Advocate, CRNA, ER,.

Krisssy,

By working on your recovery everyday, by writing and speaking about your struggles and triumphs, your fears and anxieties, and all the things we all deal with as recovering individuals, you are helping immensely. Coming back as an RN and working in the field of recovery will be a daily example of someone who has met this disease head-on and survived...thrived! Sharing our experience, strength, and hope IS the best form of help we can offer to the addict who still suffers. And you are doing that here and in your daily life.

Glad your part of the family!!

Jack

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Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.
I look around today, at all the things I have, material and not so material... like my family, my happiness, my health... and then of course my new living room furniture :) haha.. (had to add that) I am sooo proud of myself to be able to go out and buy things. Sometimes I just sit and look around, feeling happy for no reason. It's nice.

Four years ago I barely had a place to live. An apartment in the bad side of town,, dirty old furniture, and no car. I had lost everything little by little in my quest to get and stay high. I turned into some sort of alternate version of myself. Something that I will never go back to.

Now that I see how good life can be,, I will never go back to that place. I want to live and be happy. Everything is not perfect in my life, I still have to work on things, like my nutrition,, exercise, and stuff like that... but I am so proud of where I am right now. I can set short term and long term goals,, and I can meet them and set more.

Heck, I've learned how to use spreadsheet on my computer and I'm doing my household budget.. I can't believe this, but it is actually fun!

I don't know why I am rambling on,, maybe I hope that someone will read all of this and a light will go off in their head,,, and I will be able to help them. Who knows.

Hey mags!!

i know exactly how you feel!

i bought a car on my own for the first time in my life 2 yrs ago. because of my bad credit my payments are thru the roof but thats just another result of the consequences of my actions while using. but every month when i pay that payment...i am happy to pay it. it tickles the chit out of me! just knowing that finally I bought something on my own....feels so good.

and i know what you mean about just sitting around happy for no reason. i do the same! nice to meet a kindred ;)

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Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.
Krisssy,

By working on your recovery everyday, by writing and speaking about your struggles and triumphs, your fears and anxieties, and all the things we all deal with as recovering individuals, you are helping immensely. Coming back as an RN and working in the field of recovery will be a daily example of someone who has met this disease head-on and survived...thrived! Sharing our experience, strength, and hope IS the best form of help we can offer to the addict who still suffers. And you are doing that here and in your daily life.

Glad your part of the family!!

Jack

When i went to rehab, i personally told every nurse i worked with. i felt i owed it to them as their supervisor. i am extremely honest about my recovery at work...probably too much so sometimes. but what it has done is gave us all an open discussion of addiction. many times people i work with (every dept) come to me about a family memeber in crisis. they all also know my husband works in a treatment center so many bypass me and go straight to him for help. they all know that he and i respect their privacy.

but what ive noticed about us as a group of nurses is that our open communication about addiction has made us have many, many discussions and debates about addiction. sometimes it's about a patient we might think has drug seeking behavior, sometimes it might me be talking to the nurses about a certain patient that i think needs more pain control, sometimes it's the docs asking me specifics about how i stole drugs to help them write better orders to make it not so easy for nurses to steal (we have totally changed the way we write narc orders). most are supportive of me. no wait...all are supportive of me and i love them so for that. but some also have differing opinions of whether or not nurses that are addicts should be allowed to practice, but mostly it is the fact that 75% of our license cost goes to TNPAP. many are resentful of that. but what we have is the ability to talk openly about it...all opinions. i dont get defensive and they know they can speak honestly with me. i might defend my position and sometimes i dont....depends on the conversation.

but what im proud of is that we are talking. we are a closeknit group that have worked together for years and years in a small facility (less than 100 beds) so we are a family. and my addiciton and my openness of my sobriety has opened up a line of communication that is a rarity in healthcare. and i'm so proud of us!!

they've seen it all thru me. it's a common joke at work about how i "used" to act. when i first started working there and was just starting to try and get sober, i was horrible. i was the "it's my way or the high way type supervisor". over the past 5 years they have watched me morph into a very laid back type supervisor that they can come to for anything. i'm the first one to admit how bad i was. so when we get a new employee that comes in with that type of attitude, it's common for someone to use me as an example of how it doesnt work, lol. the employees tried to run me out of there on a rail the first 6 months i was there because of how bad i was. i was a horror to work for and work with. i'm able to see that now. and im able to talk about it. and laff at how ridiculously i behaved.

but we are able to laff about it because they have been there and watched me as i faced my disease head on. what theyve seen is that while my recovery got stronger and stronger, i began living the steps and thats what changed me inside and out..at work and at home. it wasnt something that just happened...it's been a slow process. it's not like i announced to them "i am going to change". i just started living in recovery...not just sobriety. and recovery affects every aspect of your life. it's a whole disease..it affects your whole life. so when you live in recovery....all of you changes.

i'm proud of the fact that, in our little facility, i've been able to be part of the solution and the change in our healthcare community and that we have that open dialog amongst ourselves. and believe me, they've all probably learned more about recovery than they ever wanted to know, lol.

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Specializes in Impaired Nurse Advocate, CRNA, ER,.

WELL SAID!!!!!!:yeah::up:

Jack

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Specializes in OB/GYN, Nursery, Peds, ER, Med-surg, etc.

Your story is very very similar to mine. I shot up Dilaudid, Morphine, Demerol right at work. Found myself digging in the sharps container. I was so ashamed of myself afterwards. Unfortunately i couldn't stop and was busted. I was forced to resign and get help. I have been in the HPSP program for almost 2 years now. Thank you for your story, it really hit home and made me realize that im not alone here..

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I personally have a zero tolorence for a nurse who has stolen medication and or uses drugs and is able to keep a nursing license.

Really.... Then what are you doing reading these posts? Someone you know, or that is in your life, must be or has been down this road that you hold a grudge to. You also must be super human and have no feelings or compassion towards somebody (especially a fellow nurse) that has a problem and resorted to drugs. Guess we all know where NOT to go if we ever need a shoulder to cry!

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Specializes in CRNA, Law, Peer Assistance, EMS.

Tula~ That post is from 2005...perhaps she has changed her mind.

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Specializes in icu,ccu,sicu,crna.

To nxtgr8trn, Get an addictionist pain mgt doc and get off the methadone. You'll never be sorry. peace.

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