Hospital Nurses’ Attitudes Toward Patients Who Have Used Illegal Drugs in the Past

Attitudes of Hospital Nurses Toward Patients with a History of Illegal Drug Usage

Illegal drug use is the ongoing use of drugs and substances, such as prescribed or non-prescribed medications, alcohol, cocaine, narcotics, and other drugs. Many people all around the world are battling with alcohol or drug addiction. Drug and substance abuse has been a problem that has primarily impacted the society’s youth. Drug junkies prioritize drugs over everything else, including their life. Most drug users become criminals in society, while some acquire mental illnesses (Harling & Turner, 2012). They are unable to maintain stable homes and ends up leading a poor life. Due to increase in individuals who are engaging in illicit drug use, governments of different countries have come up with treatment programs to help these individuals to get back to their normal life, and continue being productive citizens. However, some difficulties face illicit drug users’ patients while they are in the process of reforming (Van Boekel, Brouwers, Van Weeghel & Garretsen, 2013). This paper will discuss the attitudes of the nurses towards patients with illicit drug use history.

The Relationship Between Nurses and Patients with Illicit Drug Use History

The relationship between a nurse and a patient with illicit drug use history can be affected by the attitude of the nurse towards the patient. This, in turn, can lead to a suboptimal patient care in the healthcare environment. The attitude of the health care providers toward the patients who use illicit drugs affects their approach of providing health care. Health care providers have a bad attitude towards those patients with a history of abusing drugs and substances, and this applies to both current and past patients. Since the nurses are the ones who are mostly in face to face contact with the patients in the healthcare settings, they are responsible for the well-being and health of a person with illicit drug addiction (Chu & Galang, 2013). The dangerous criminal activities conducted by illicit drug users in the society makes the nurses and other healthcare providers to look them upon, thus giving them poor health care services.

Challenges Faced by Patients with Illicit Drug Use

Patients who have the problem of illicit drug use suffers not only from the disorder alone but also from the health care staffs and other people’s discrimination. Studies have shown that the treatment of peoples with illicit drug use problems are not as effective as they are supposed to be. Just like most people, most nurses think poorly of the patients with substances and drugs use disorders. For the past decades, the attitudes of almost all nurses towards illicit drug use patients were poor, and most of the nurses believed that the users of these drugs were hopeless and irresponsible. However, recently, this notion is improving, and nurses are continuing to improve their attitudes towards this patient (Chang & Yang, 2013).

Complex Care for Patients with Illicit Drug Use

Patients who have a history of illicit drug use are delicate, and they require complex care and a lot of attention. This is because illicit drugs are often associated with other risks such as contracting HIV, mental illnesses, and hepatitis C infections. Also, most of this patients are people who have been victims of crimes, violence, and other related situations, this are risks that increase their mortality rate without them knowing (Chu & Galang, 2013). As a result of these problems which are associated with patients with illicit drug use, they require great care in the hospital settings to assist them to realize themselves and stop using these drugs. They require a friendly environment, form both family members and healthcare providers. However, studies have shown that the attitude of healthcare providers towards these patients is lacking (Chang & Yang, 2013). No extensive research focuses on registered nurses in the general internal medicine; this is the people who constantly work with these patients.

The Impact of Nurses’ Attitudes on Patient Care

The attitude of nurses who works with patients with the problem of illicit drug use have shown to constitute a vital forecaster of their preparedness to interact and involve with these patients. Conversely, discrimination perceptions on the nursing staff part among illicit drug use patients includes a significant predictor of whether the patients complied with the doctor’s terms and conditions, and whether they completed their treatment (Chu & Galang, 2013). Studies have shown that, among the healthcare staff members, nurses have more negative attitudes towards illicit drug use patients than other staff members.

Reasons for Negative Attitudes of Nurses

Certain reasons contribute to the negative attitudes of the nurses towards illicit drug patients. To start with, nurses consider the clinical management of these patients to be much difficult than with other patients with different conditions, this, in turn, contributes to their overall negative attitude towards these patients. Also, other factors such as discomfort, anxiety and the perception that the patients can control their use of illicit drugs accelerated the negative attitude of the nurses (Harling & Turner, 2012). Sometimes there can be nurses who have a positive attitude towards illicit drug patients. However, their attitude can be changed by the organization which might provide the necessary support that is required to take care of these patients.

The Importance of Education and Support for Nurses

According to research, lack of competence and knowledge in the field of caring for a patient with illicit drug habit contributes to the bad attitudes of the nurses towards these patients. It has been shown that nurses lack knowledge of substance dependence and abuse. In turn, this leads to a disconnection in their capacity to give attention of patients with psychiatric and physiologic disorders (Chang & Yang, 2013). The deficit in such knowledge perpetuates suboptimal care, and the nurses are aware of this.

For nurses to be able to take care of patients with substance disorders, they must be equipped with the sufficient knowledge about substance use. Only a few nurses have adequate education and proper preparations in illicit drug use disorders. When nurses are educated properly on how to take care of patients with drugs and substances disorders, their attitude is improved, and therefore they will be able to give effective care (Chang & Yang, 2013). When nurses are provided with education, their personal and professional satisfaction is ensured, their confidence is raised, and they feel comfortable working with such patients since they understand them.

Even though education is a factor that will help improve the attitude of nurses towards these patients, education by itself alone is not enough. Nurses require support from different bodies to assist them in performing their tasks effectively. Nurses will develop better therapeutic attitudes while working with patients with illicit drug disorder if they have someone to collaborate with in creating a care plan. Support in roles is a strong driver of the therapeutic attitude in nurses when role support is combined with education, the results are significant, and the patients are ensured of quality care (Monks, Topping & Newell, 2013).

Resources for Supporting Patients with Illicit Drug Disorders

Numerous resources can be used to support and care for patients with illicit drug disorders in nursing. Systems or unit educators such as specialists in clinical nursing can be used to design specific support programs which are based on provider and patient needs (Harling & Turner, 2012). Those who are working to improve the attitude of the nurses towards patients who are suffering from illicit drug use should research and investigate available options on support to treat these patients efficiently. They should find champs who can pursue addiction certification from international Nurses Society on Addictions (Monks et al., 2013). There are many treatments for drugs and substances use and are evidence-based, and they can be used to produce an effective outcome.

Conclusion

In conclusion, illicit drug use has been a problem that has affected families, communities, and the whole society. This epidemic has led to the usage of billions of money by governments, in the struggle to assist these patients. People in the society develop negative attitudes towards these individuals since they are mostly associated with criminal activities. This discrimination and negative attitudes proceed and find them even in the healthcare settings, where they are discriminated against nurses and other healthcare staff members. However, such patients should not be discriminated; they should be treated equally as the other patients in need of healthcare services. Nurses should be given enough education so that they can be well equipped with knowledge on how to deal with this patients.

References

Chang, Y. P., & Yang, M. S. (2013). Nurses’ Attitudes Toward Clients With Substance Use Problems. Perspectives in psychiatric care, 49(2), 94-102.

Chu, C., & Galang, A. (2013). Hospital nurses’ attitudes toward patients with a history of illicit drug use. The Canadian nurse, 109(6), 29-33.

Harling, M. R., & Turner, W. (2012). Student nurses’ attitudes to illicit drugs: a grounded theory study. Nurse education today, 32(3), 235-240.

Monks, R., Topping, A., & Newell, R. (2013). The dissonant care management of illicit drug users in medical wards, the views of nurses and patients: a grounded theory study. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(4), 935-946.

Van Boekel, L. C., Brouwers, E. P., Van Weeghel, J., & Garretsen, H. F. (2013). Stigma among health professionals towards patients with substance use disorders and its consequences for healthcare delivery: systematic review. Drug and alcohol dependence, 131(1), 23-35.