In the healthcare setting, workplace impairment refers to failing to provide patient care with reasonable skill and safety because the worker is afflicted with a substance use disorder, physical illness, or mental illness. A worker's impairment may be temporary, intermittent, or escalating. It is estimated that nurses' impairment rate is between 10% to 15%, the same as the average population (Kunyk, 2015). The significant outcome of nurse impairment is increased risk or injury to the patient, self, colleagues, and the employer.
Nursing during usual times is a stressful profession. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased that stress (McKay & Asmundson, 2020). According to the CDC (2020), this pandemic can lead to stress, anxiety, fear, and other strong emotions that can increase drug and alcohol use.
This increased stress can lead to the following behaviors and responses in health professionals, which can facilitate increased drug and alcohol use:
Dr. Michael McCormick, an addiction specialist at the Caron Treatment Center for addictions, describes how the additional stress and living situations during COVID time increased a nurses' use of alcohol.
A nurse was working long shifts in the hospital, dealing with COVID-19 patients. Then she would go home. She had isolated herself from her husband for fear of passing the virus on to him, so her time at home was spent alone, watching the news about the pandemic. Her anxiety skyrocketed, and her drinking was quickly out of control.
She described how she would go to work at the hospital but didn't talk about her anxiety or fears. She would return home and watch the news, drinking more and more over time. She eventually reached a crisis point and reached out for help. https://www.caron.org/blog/covid19-fuels-anxiety-and-substance-use-disorder-among-healthcare-professionals.
In this course, information will be presented on how employers and employees can be vigilant for workplace impairment. The following topics will be discussed:
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Drug and alcohol impairment is less than 2% of nurses..
References
American Nurses Association (ANA), & International Nurses Society on Addictions (IntNSA) (2013). Addictions nursing: scope and standards of practice. Silver Spring, MD: Nursesbooks.org.
Dunn, D. (2005). Substance use among nurses—Defining the issue. AORN, 82(4), 573-596/p>
The U.S. Dept. of Labor. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Healthcare. Accessed 8/15/2017. https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthcarefacilities/index.html
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