Nurses' Attitudes toward Substance Misusers. III. Emergency Room Nurses' Attitudes, Nurses' Attitudes toward Impaired Nurses, and Studies of Attitudinal Change

Abstract

Emergency room nurses generally regard alcohol and drug misusers as troublesome patients and dislike caring for them. Surveys of nurses' and nurse managers' attitudes toward impaired nurses, all published in recent years, suggest that they are generally supportive of impaired nurses and sanguine about their prospects for recovery; nonetheless, a substantial minority oppose the return to work of a formerly substance-misusing nurse colleague. Programs designed to change nurses' attitudes toward substance misusers are generally ineffective, although significant gains in substance-related knowledge are commonly reported.

Key Words:

• Nurses
• Attitudes
• Stigma
• Substance use
• Substance users