Ross Charlotte A, Berry Nicole S, Smye Victoria, Goldner Elliot M
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Nurs Inq. 2018 Apr;25(2):e12215. doi: 10.1111/nin.12215. Epub 2017 Aug 17.
Problematic substance use (PSU) among nurses has wide-ranging adverse implications. A critical integrative literature review was conducted with an emphasis on building knowledge regarding the influence of structural factors within nurses' professional environments on nurses with PSU. Five thematic categories emerged: (i) access, (ii) stress, and (iii) attitudes as contributory factors, (iv) treatment policies for nurses with PSU, and (v) the culture of the nursing profession. Conclusions were that an overemphasis on individual culpability and failing predominates in the literature and that crucial knowledge gaps exist regarding the influence of structural factors on driving and shaping nurses' substance use.
