Substance Use Disorder in Nursing

No one is immune from developing Substance Use Disorder. It can affect anyone regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, economic circumstance or occupation. Nurses who abuse substances pose a unique challenge to the nursing profession. The behavior that results from this disease has far-reaching and negative effects, not only on the nurses themselves, but also upon the patients who depend on the nurse for safe, competent care. Early recognition, reporting and intervention are fundamental for keeping patients safe from harm and helping colleagues recover. 

Substance Use Disorder in Nursing tackles one of the most serious problems facing nursing today. The video provides a comprehensive look at the issue of substance use disorder. Watch now!

Prior to the 1980s, nurses were often fired by employers and/or disciplined by the board of nursing (BON) when evidence of substance use became apparent. Non-disciplinary programs, offering an alternative to traditional discipline, are now used by a growing number of state BONs. These programs provide the nurse with rapid involvement in a rehabilitation or treatment program and remove the nurse from providing care until safety to practice can be established and confirmed.

When treatment for nurses is individually tailored to meet their needs and an appropriate supportive monitoring system is in place, nurses can recover and return to practice safely. An extensive body of scientific evidence demonstrates that approaching substance use disorders as treatable illness is extremely effective for the individual using substances, as well as for society.

• Impact of Nurse Practitioner Scope of Practice on Treatment for Chronic Pain and Opioid Use Disorder: A Scoping Review (7.1.21)
• Opioid Prescribing Safety Measures Utilized by Primary Healthcare Providers in Canada: A Scoping Review (1.1.21)
• The Alabama Board of Nursing Campaign to Promote the Voluntary Disciplinary Alternative Program (10.1.20)
• Components of Nurse Substance Use Disorder Monitoring Programs (7.1.20)
• Outcomes of Substance Use Disorder Monitoring Programs for Nurses (7.1.20)
• Early Career Nurse Reports of Work-Related Substance Use (4.1.20)
• Nurses With Substance Use Disorder: Promoting Successful Treatment and Reentry, 10 Years Later (4.1.20)
• Substance Use in Registered Nurses: Where Legal, Medical, and Personal Collide (7.1.19)
• Mitigating Responses to the Opioid Crisis (4.1.19)
• Nurse Practitioners’ Safe Prescribing of Controlled Substances and the Impact on Nursing Education in Ontario (1.1.19)
• Drug Dealer, MD: How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (4.1.18)
• Preventing, Detecting, and Addressing Opioid Overprescribing (7.1.17)
• States React to Opioid Crises with Aggressive Legislation Aimed at Saving Lives (1.1.17)
• Work Reentry for RNs After Substance Use Disorder Treatment: Implications for the Nursing Profession (10.1.16)
• Standards of Care for Opioid Prescribing: What Every APRN Prescriber and Investigator Need to Know (4.1.16)