Impaired Nurses Working After a Treatment Program Kayla Johns Santa Teresa Community College Mary Shrine, MA.RN.CNE RNSG 2035 Management of Client Care April 19, 2010 Outline Thesis: The dilemma is if impaired nurses should keep practicing after completing a treatment program; this issue is controversial due to nurses being responsible for the lives of others, there are pros and cons that must be understood before making any judgments. I. Introduction-Definition of impairment and statistics on the issue II. Case Scenario-Six nurses encountering different situations of impairment III. Current Status: a. American Nursing Association 1. Provision 3 2. 2002 resolution 3. Provision 3.6 i. …show more content…
Most of her patients complain of pain within minutes of being “medicated”. Finally, Nurse Jackie got divorced a couple of months ago. She felt depressed most of the time, she was constantly late to work, making mistakes often, and her appearance was not appropriate for the health care setting. Her supervisor talked to her about the situation, and Jackie agreed to get help. She completed a treatment program last month and was able to spare her license and her job. She has more energy and is one of the best nurses in the unit. These three scenarios are examples of the reality that thousands of nurses experience on a daily basis. It is estimated that one out of five to seven nurses (Indiana State Nurses Association, 2007) suffer from some type of impairment. The ANA has adopted a resolution that seeks ways to assist impaired nurses to recover and reclaim their careers. This is the reason why the ANA supports “alternative to discipline” and “peer assistance programs” offered by most states, including the state of Texas. It is called the Texas Peer Assistance Program (TPAP), “it offers comprehensive monitoring and support services to reasonably assure the safe rehabilitation and return of the nurse to her or his professional community” (ANA, 2002). In addition to the ANA ethical principles, the Americans with Disabilities Act (1996) protects qualified individuals against discrimination in job application procedures, hiring, advancement, discharge,
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that forbids the discrimination against individuals with disabilities in jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are in the general public. This law makes sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities. (What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? (2017, March 21)
As the article The Impaired Nurse stated, “Impaired nurses can become dysfunctional in their ability to provide safe, appropriate patient care” (Thomas, C.M., & Siela, D. 2011). As we learned in class the four ethical principles include; beneficence which is the act of doing the most good, non-malfeasance which is the act of doing the least amount of harm, autonomy which focuses on allowing each individual to make their own decisions and justice which focuses on being fair to all involved. Nurses who are abusing substance typically can’t follow these for ethical principles to the best of their ability because they are too focused on themselves. As mentioned in the article Substance Abuse among Nurses, nurses who are abusing substances are not able to complete tasks and function as a typical nurse would (Talbert, J. J. 2009). These types of nurses are not able to apply the four ethical principles to their everyday work environment because they are too focused on the substances they need. These nurses would not be able to function and apply to principle of doing the most good because they will not be doing the best if on substances. As mentioned in both articles, these nurses will spend a good amount of time in the bathrooms hiding and using, take medications from patients, and forget tasks that need complete. Beneficence and non-malfeasance in my opinion could not apply to nurses who are abusing substances because they are not caring for their patients as
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of the most significant laws in American History. Before the ADA was passed, employers were able to deny employment to a disabled worker, simply because he or she was disabled. With no other reason other than the person's physical disability, they were turned away or released from a job. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. The act guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA not only opened the door for
In a profession where others' health and well-being are priority, there leaves room for neglect of those who are delegated to care for these people. As a professional nurse, there are many obstacles that arise and affect the care provided to a patient, as well as the livelihood of the nurse. The current deteriorating and unsafe staffing conditions in hospitals and other institutions prompts workplace advocacy as the universally appropriate concept for maintaining professional nursing practice. Common
Managers must always maintain an open door policy for staff, with no fear of reprisal, when voicing any concern. Patient safety should always be the top priority. When dealing with an impaired nurse, the first step in “the nurse manager’s role in the process is removing the nurse from patient care is essential, which will assist the nurse in focusing on the care and treatment of the disorder and the sooner patients are protected” ("A Nurse Manager’s Guide," 2014). In addition, the nurse manager should occasionally review and become familiar with any facility policies or procedures on this topic and ensure that confidentiality is always
People with disabilities have become an integral part of the workforce. The ADA forbids discrimination against people with disabilities when recruiting, hiring, training, and compensating employees (Sotoa & Kleiner, 2013). The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental and establishes requirements for telecommunications relay services (activities (Stryker, R. (2013). Employers are not allowed to ask employees if they have a disability. The employers are not allowed to ask employees with disabilities to undergo a medical exam before an offer of employment unless all applicants are required to take the same exam (Kaye, Jans, & Jones,
Nursing is a highly esteemed profession but still has its negative aspects. Due to the demanding and stressful nature of the job, many nurses have fallen in the trap of substance abuse. Substance abuse among nurses is a serious issue that not only affects the nurse, but also the safety of their patient. Nurses under the influence of illegal substance while providing patient care jeopardizes life of patients. The American Nurses Association (ANA) estimates that six to eight percent of nurses use alcohol or drugs to an extent that is sufficient to impair professional appearance. The truth is disturbing because nurses are the medical caregivers who are most often responsible for the health and well-being of the general
According to the American Nurses Association, an impaired nurse is unable to meet the requirements of the code of ethics and standards of practice of the profession. This nurse has cognitive, interpersonal or psychomotor skills affected by psychiatric illness and/or drug or alcohol abuse of addiction (American Nurses Association, 2010). Not only do these nurses create a potential threat to their clients, but they have also neglected to care for themselves.
The authors surveyed registered nurses (RNs) who were working in ambulatory environments to understand the connection between the RNs perception of their daily work, and the practice of professional nursing (Schim, Thornburg, & Kravutske, 2001). There were significant challenges to the successful completion of this survey such as; its length of twenty pages, the organizations staffing issues which negatively affected moral that resulted in only an 18% response rate (Schim et al., 2001). The respondent RNs felt they were underutilized in their practices; spending a majority of their time on work that could be delegated (Schim et al., 2001). In the practice setting, staff at all levels misunderstood the scope of practice of RNs, nor was independent
Working Stage—When patients are ready, the work toward changing their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can begin. However, drastic changes might not be the goal for some patients, particularly the chronically ill. Stabilization with meds, reduction of symptoms, and development of supportive relationships are valid goals. The parts of this working stage begin with in depth data collection. This is where the nurse facilitates awareness, analysis, and interpretation through in-depth exploration of issues and identification of priority issues. Reality testing is the next part, and is an important strategy in the
Appropriate nursing assessment and interventions were provided to assist patients in moving-forward so that they may successfully return to constructive and satisfying lives in the community. Methods of helping people with SCI move forward include applying the following three specific nursing interventions for rehabilitation nursing practice. 1) Enhance self-efficacy. The MSES scale could be utilized to find out which individuals will have more difficulty adapting after SCI. Rehabilitation nursing care should be individualistically designed and structured to build the confidence of an individual to achieve the goal of the procedure with successes experienced at first in performing specific tasks. For instance, with respect to self-efficacy of an individual, rehabilitating nurses could focus on the patient’s sexual dysfunction and help him, or her reestablish a regular stool routine. 2) Reinforce people’s self-perception of moving forward. This involves using the self-perception scale for measuring people’s effect of moving forward to provide proper nursing care and understanding of the meaning and consequence of their injuries, and ability to challenge it by helping to find self-value and confidence to sustain oneself to achieve successes among their opportunities and
The Americans with Disabilities Act, protects individuals on the basis of mental or physical disabilities. The Age Discrimination in Employment protects individuals 40 years of age and older.
First of all, it is very important to understand what nursing really is, what kind of responsibilities it includes. If we search for the meaning of the word “nurse”, we will find such explanations as: “Nurse - a person educated and trained to care for the sick or disabled” (Dictionary by Farlex (n.d.), “Nurse - one who is especially prepared in the scientific basis of nursing and who meets certain prescribed standards of education and clinical competence” (Saunders, Dorland 's Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers, 2007). According to the American Nurses Association: “Nursing is the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations”. All these options combined means that nursing is an integral
American Nurses Association defines nursing as “the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and population”( Potter,P.,& Perry, A. 2005,1-5). Thus making nursing dynamic and ever changing. However, when nursing
The stress of long-term care affects everyone. Nursing is a field that should not be pursued for the money alone. A nursing career is a 24/7 career. Nurses sacrifice many hours of time with family and loved ones due to their dedication. Sick days and vacation days should be mandatory for nursing employees. When employees become overworked and “burned out”, they are no longer a useful team member for the facility. Many good nurses and CNAs can be lost to “burn