Wisconsin has about 31,500 nurses. If substance abuse rates among healthcare professionals are roughly equivalent to the general population — which, according to the report, they are thought to be — that means more than 3,000 healthcare workers in Wisconsin are likely dealing with substance abuse.
That said, there are currently only 37 nurses enrolled in Wisconsin’s government-run program to monitor clinicians who were either caught abusing drugs or self-reported a substance abuse problem. According to the Star Tribune, some critics say low participation rates may be because the program is overseen by the disciplinary Board of Nursing, which may deter some nurses from self-reporting.
“You basically have to put yourself at risk of discipline and offer, in writing, potentially self-incriminating statements to even be considered for our state program,” Mike Miller, medical director of the Herrington Recovery Center at Rogers Memorial Hospital in Oconomowoc, Wis., told the Star Tribune.
Mr. Miller suggested Wisconsin adopt an independently run program similar to Florida’s Intervention Project for Nurses, which has more than 1,300 nurses enrolled.
Ann Stanton is a nurse at Rogers Memorial Hospital who used to steal drugs from the hospital and was caught in a bathroom injecting herself with a drug used to treat anxiety disorders. Ms. Stanton regained her full nursing license in October and now works at Rogers Memorial again in substance abuse treatment, according to the report. She told the Star Tribune that she is a better nurse now having gone through addiction.
“There is hope, that’s what I want to communicate. There is hope, and people change,” Ms. Stanton told the newspaper.
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