Substance abuse
Substance abuse among nurses
The prevalence of substance abuse among nurses is rising and continues to rise. The American Nurses' Association estimates that six to eight percent of nurses use alcohol or other drugs to the extent that they impair their professional performance (American Nurses Association, 2002). Because of the incidence of drug abuse among nurses, it is important all nurses to be aware that drug abuse exists among nurses and should know the proper steps to assist their co-worker get the support they need. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the concept, assessment and interventions of the character.
Introduction of character
Bobby Schofield is a 32 year old staff nurse who has been on the medical-surgical unit of Neighborhood Hospital for 5 years (see Appendix B). He decided to get into nursing because he thought it would be an exciting career with job security and good salary. He likes his job, but lately he has gotten bored and feels irritable, unfocused , and avoids conversations with coworkers. Bobby is single and, although he has a few friends, he considers himself a loner. He has never had a serious relationship or a close relationship with his family. He enjoys to party and have a good time to forget about his problems, however, he has a predisposition to alcoholism and drug abuse.
Bobby has been working several shifts per week, and volunteers to take a couple of extra night shifts, because he realized it's easier to take narcotics on night shifts with less people working and less supervision. He begins to regularly take narcotics from work and experiments with a wide variety of drugs, but discovers that he enjoys morphine the most and finds that it makes him feel good. He is unaware that some of his coworkers are beginning to notice his evasiveness and mood swings. He gets cut and have...