Behaviors of peers and supervisors as perceived by impaired nurse colleagues: a descriptive study

The purposes of this study were (a) to describe the perceived behaviors of supervisors and peers toward a group of recovering impaired nursing during their period of addiction, (b) to describe behaviors impaired nurses felt might have been helpful in facilitation recovery, and (c) to compare the perceived behavior to the profession's stated responsibilities to protect the public from incompetent nursing care and to assist the impaired nurse colleague toward restoration of health. Through the use of indepth interviews which were part of a larger study, 21 impaired nurses provided descriptions of the perceived behaviors of colleagues toward them. From the perspective of their own personal experience, impaired nurses identified the behaviors that were nonhelpful, that is, that allowed the addictive process to continue. Group dynamics of staff members sometimes evolved into enabling responses which were perceived to be an impediment to the recovery process. The nurses also described behaviors that were perceived as supportive and facilitative of treatment and offered suggestions related to behavior that might have been helpful in assisting them to prevent, recognize, and seek treatment for their addictive illness. The preponderance of perceived nonhelpful responses indicated a potential problem in the implementation of an ethical code into day-by-day behaviors of nurses confronting this particular ethical dilemma. As nurses described their unique experiences with the complex phenomenon of addiction and subsequent experiences with theirs peers and supervisor, information was generated to assist the profession and individual nurses to provide intervention reflective of the profession's commitment to quality patient care and humanistic concern for impaired colleagues.