Nursing can be a rewarding and satisfying profession. It can also be extremely stressful.
Nurses deal with pain and death in the very young and very old.
They are often caught between doctors or supervisors and families or caretakers. Some may try to relax with a drink, a cigarette, or a pill. Substance use was related to the type of nurse we interviewed, according to R. Lorraine Collins, Ph.D. and senior research scientist on the project. It is interesting to note that prescription drugs were the only class of substances for which no significant differences between RNs and LPNs were found. However, more RNs reported current use of allergy medications and more LPNs reported use of stimulants.