A Retrospective Descriptive Study of Nurses With Substance Use Disorders in Texas

There are approximately 3.1 million nurses in the Unites States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016), and approximately 8% of them experience substance use disorders (Kunyk, 2015). Nurses with impaired practice are referred to peer assistance programs as they seek rehabilitation. As of 2016, 348 nurses in Texas Peer Assistance Program for Nurses were actively participating in the program for substance-abuse-related offenses. Over the last 6 years (2010-2016), 1,553 nurses were referred to Texas Peer Assistance Program for Nurses specifically for substance-abuse-related problems. These represent 2% of the population of nurses in Texas. The average age of participants was 40.1 years. Women represented 75% of participants, and 76% were registered nurses. About 41% successfully completed the program without relapsing, and 32% reported at least one relapse. Varieties of drugs were abused including prescription drugs and illegal drugs. Opioids were the most frequently abused class of drugs, followed by alcohol and stimulants. Most nurses obtained their drugs by diverting from patients. Contrary to what is in the literature, nurses working in long-term care, medical-surgical units, and home health care had the highest prevalence of impaired practice. Psychiatric comorbidity was not significantly associated with relapse, but self-report status was significantly associated with gender, age category, license type, relapse, and drug of choice. There was a significant inverse relationship between time it takes to enroll and number of abstinent days. Men were also more likely to be employed while in the program.