Nurses' perceptions of impairment due to substance use in Gauteng Province

[摘要] ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background:Substance-related impairment among healthcare professionals including nurses has been a significant concern locally and internationally as it has public health implications. Impairement renders the practitioner incapable of providing competent, safe and quality care. Patient safety is fundamental in the provision of nursing care. This can be achieved by developing quality monitoring strategies and management of performance to ensure that the health worker's performance outputs meet the expected standards. This was a deductive study in which conclusions drawn on how nurses' perceived impairment due to substance-related disorders was based on the information from studies already conducted on the phenomenon. This study was conducted to gain in-depth knowledge and understanding of impairments due to substance-use disorder. Knowledge of this phenomenon could help the profession to understand the scope of the problems related to impaired nursing practice and to suggest measures that could be put in place to minimise the problem.Objectives:The purpose of the study was to explore nurses' perceptions of impairment due to substance use in selected settings in Gauteng Province and to explore their opinions on measures that may be taken to minimise the problem.Method:The study is quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional. In this study 104 respondents responded to questionnaires which were hand-distributed to enrolled and professional nurses in an academic tertiary hospital in Gauteng province. An electronic literature search was done at the University's library on the following data bases: PubMed, Wiley, Proquest and Google Scholar. Psychiatric textbooks and government notices were used to source information. Descriptive data analysis was conducted with the help of statistician.Results:Results demonstrated that respondents viewed nurses' impairment due to substance abuse as a disease that can be treated. They showed that they understood that impaired nursing practice could have negative effects on patient care. Most of the respondents showed support suggested measures that could be put in place to minimise the problem. The measures included the need for nursing education on substance-related disorders, support from employers, non-punitive measures and referring impaired nurses for rehabilitation.Conclusion:Substance-related disorders and impaired nursing practice are challenges that threaten public safety, and there is a need to educate nurses on the phenomenon and to seek remedies that would alleviate it in order to have a healthy, and competent nursing community.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University