Healthcare Professionals: Behaviors And Collaboration

Behaviors and Collaboration
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Behaviors and Collaboration
Substance abuse among healthcare professionals is highly dangerous and directly and indirectly contributes towards increased safety risks for patients. This is mainly because healthcare professionals that are chemically dependent on various substances have little to no chance of performing their duties as they should and in the correct procedure at all times. In the event that their dependency overwhelms them, the potential risks are highly detrimental to patient health.
As far as Arizona is concerned, the issue of dependent nurses is one that needs to be handled firmly and with care. For this reason, the Arizona State Board of Nursing has developed the CANDO program to provide assistance to nurses that are dependent on drug, alcohol, or substance abuse in the means of not only rehabilitating them, but also mitigating the risks such nurses pose to patients (Arizona State Board of Nursing, 2010). In essence, this nursing program hopes to deter chemically dependent nurses from engaging in continued abuse not only through the provision of rehabilitation and recovery help, but also through instituting harsh penalties for nurses that continue their abuse in disregard of the program. This program is an integral part of the healthcare sector in Arizona, and similar programs are critical to healthcare in other states as well. This is mainly because such a program works well to deter nurses from engaging in substance abuse and dependency and in doing so mitigates the possibilities of patients being injured or hurt as a result of nurse incompetence (Arizona State Board of Nursing, 2010). These same goals are achieved by similar programs in different states and they work well to maintain patient safety and wellbeing in the healthcare sector.
Upon closer inspection, it becomes abundantly clear that this program is highly effective in addressing alcohol, substance, and drug abuse and dependency among nurses. It achieves this in two ways. First, it provides dependent nurses with an opportunity to overcome their addiction and rebuild their lives and careers, which helps many nurses struggling with dependency (Arizona State Board of Nursing, 2010). Secondly, it institutes stringent punitive measures on nurses that fail to adhere to these guidelines and that risk jeopardizing patient safety through their continued substance abuse and dependency (Arizona State Board of Nursing, 2010).
The Louisiana State Board of Nursing has a similar program called the Recovering Nurse Program (RNP) to assist student and registered nurses work through and overcome their addictions (Louisiana State Board of Nursing, 2011). It is strikingly similar to the CANDO program in that it admits nurses confidentially, monitors nurses through their recovery, and helps nurses recover from dependency and rebuild their lives. The same goes for punitive measures seeing as both programs have instituted measures aimed at deterring continued dependence and abuse from nurses admitted into the program (Louisiana State Board of Nursing, 2011).
Across the USA, the success rates of nurse addiction recovery programs are often high, particularly in the short-term. In the short-term, man...