Substance Use Disorder in Healthcare Professionals

This book describes why substance use disorder occurs in healthcare workers, explains how to recognize substance use disorder in peers and how to care for them. It discusses the barriers to seeking treatment, provides different monitoring programs and disciplinary actions, and educates on the recovery and how those with long term recovery maintain it. This book also intends to decrease stigmatizing behaviors. 

While the main focus is nursing, this book can be helpful to any healthcare professional group. Dr Carmel Clancy, President of the International Nurses Society on Addictions (IntNSA), did us the honor of writing the Foreword.

Kristin Waite-Labott is a Registered Nurse and has worked with substance use disorders for 15 years in many different settings. She earned her BSN degree from Winona State University in 1991, and is currently the head nurse coach for Veritus, a virtual treatment program for medical professionals with substance use disorder. She is the Interim President of the International Nurses Society on Addictions (IntNSA) USA and is President of the Eastern Wisconsin  IntNSA Chapter.

In 2005 she lost almost everything to her alcohol and opioid use disorders. None of her family, friends, or co-workers knew that she was using drugs, not until she was fired from her job and arrested. She has been clean and sober since that time. She now works as a nurse recovery coach, an emergency room nurse, writes a blog on issues surrounding recovery from substances and works with others who struggle with substances. Her goal is to increase awareness about the problem of substance use disorder in healthcare.