Substance Abuse among Nurses and the Effects on Patient Safety
Over the last few years, drug dependence has been becoming more and more of an issue. According to Zeigler, Compton and Goldernabum (2011), “a national survey showed that 6.2 million Americans age 12 or older have abused prescription type drug” (p. 13). Drug dependence can range from alcohol dependence to being dependent on the drug heroin. Each has their own issue regarding the type of withdrawal. Unfortunately, drug dependence can affect all populations, including doctors, nurses, and even the general population. The easier the access to things, the more likely it is that someone will try to divert drugs. Diverting drugs is just an example of how people are able to use drugs and abuse drugs in the healthcare field. According to New, in the article Investigating Institutional Drug Diversion (2015), 6.6 percent of nurses reported using illicit drugs within the past year (p. 15). Unfortunately, this is just an estimate and due to under reporting, this is probably an understatement. With this …show more content…
If you have a patient who needs to receive medication and it is diverted to the nurse who is supposed to be administering it, the patient then does not receive it. According to Kimberly New, “Diversion is a multi-victim crime posing a significant risk to c-workers, institutions, third party payors, the community at large, and the diverter,” (p. 15). Again, not only does the diversion hurt the patient, but also the hospital and its other workers also. Diversion has many negative effects and the patient is usually directly affected. According to New, “Patient’s may be harmed by an impaired provider when they are denied pain relief or by blood borne pathogens introduced through tampering and substitution,” (p. 15-16). Therefore, drug diversion can lead to major legal
Over the last few years, drug dependence has been becoming more and more of an issue. According to Zeigler, Compton and Goldernabum (2011), “a national survey showed that 6.2 million Americans age 12 or older have abused prescription type drug” (p. 13). Drug dependence can range from alcohol dependence to being dependent on the drug heroin. Each has their own issue regarding the type of withdrawal. Unfortunately, drug dependence can affect all populations, including doctors, nurses, and even the general population. The easier the access to things, the more likely it is that someone will try to divert drugs. Diverting drugs is just an example of how people are able to use drugs and abuse drugs in the healthcare field. According to New, in the article Investigating Institutional Drug Diversion (2015), 6.6 percent of nurses reported using illicit drugs within the past year (p. 15). Unfortunately, this is just an estimate and due to under reporting, this is probably an understatement. With this …show more content…
If you have a patient who needs to receive medication and it is diverted to the nurse who is supposed to be administering it, the patient then does not receive it. According to Kimberly New, “Diversion is a multi-victim crime posing a significant risk to c-workers, institutions, third party payors, the community at large, and the diverter,” (p. 15). Again, not only does the diversion hurt the patient, but also the hospital and its other workers also. Diversion has many negative effects and the patient is usually directly affected. According to New, “Patient’s may be harmed by an impaired provider when they are denied pain relief or by blood borne pathogens introduced through tampering and substitution,” (p. 15-16). Therefore, drug diversion can lead to major legal