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Across North Carolina, there are more than 113,000 licensed practical and registered nurses. Each year the N.C. Board of Nursing investigates 800 to 850 for questionable conduct, including improper use of prescription drugs.

It would appear that less than 1% of the total number are investigated each year. However, over a number of years this becomes a cummulative number. I have personal knowledge that stress health professionals are subjected to (trauma they deal with daily, death, hours worked [16 hour days in many cases], etc.) plus the availability of medication adds to the problem. But I think the cummulative affect of nurses addicted to meds is a higher number than the medical community would have us believe.

"It's not going to do anything. It's harmless," Apple said of saline injections. "The issue is you're still in pain."

Keep in mind that the woman making this statement is executive director of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. She says the only harm done is that the patient is still in pain. Well, not quite. Because that patient will complain to staff that he is still in pain and the medication is not working. This will be communicated to his attending physician who will either increase his dosage or switch to a more potent analgesic. When this new order is carried out, it may well be too high a dose for this patient, triggering a potentially life-threatening episode. And that's only the beginning of the problems created by these junkies posing as nurses. Can you say "wrongful death?" I knew that you could.

In my state, the names of nurses, their locations, and the exact charges (but not the victims' identities) and the penalty are printed in a paper that every citizen has access to. In my facility, drug screens are given pre-employment and at random. Accepting employment at my facility means accepting testing at any time.

I think this is a good idea, for the protection of patients. I am a nurse, and the extreme vulnerability of patients is a valid reason for extreme caution.

Now, if my state would only do the same thing in regard to DOCTORS...

"I think it's a commonly held belief that health professionals have a higher percentage of addiction, particularly because they have higher access to medications," Apple said. "Chemical dependency in nursing is written about a lot......

It may be a commonly held belief, but I doubt much of a fact. This is assuming Nurses are basically unethical or untrustworthy. At the beginning & end of a shift, the narcotics are counted & signed off on. If a descrepancy is found, the Med Nurse from the previous shift will not want to leave until she is sure it is not her butt out there on the line with her name on an Incident Report.

When a patient is given a narcotic, it is also signed by 2 nurses (also true when a narc is "wasted"). When I do meds, I don't trust anyone to sign the book later.....it could be the Virgin Mary RN or Jesus Christ RN. It's not that I trust them....I don't want to have to explain those blank spaces to the DEA if they come a knockin'.

Of course, every hospital has a history of a professional (or 2 or maybe 3) pilfering the narcs. Every floor has a story. It happens, there are bad apples in the barrel. However, it is not because of the availability of the narcs, it is because they are addicts. Make it known that if you are caught pilfering, you will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. You will lose your license permanently. If you need or desire treatment, you can get it in jail. Not only have you violated the law, you have denied treatment to a patient in need.

Perhaps addiction is a "disease." But an addict is where he/she is today because of the choices he/she made in life. An addiction is the culmination of life's choices.

"But the percentage of nurses who violate the Nurse Practice Act percentage-wise is very low. The majority of nurses are very safe."

Safe? I prefer the terms Professional, Educated, Honest, Trustworthy, Degreed individuals who bust their butts above & beyond to provide the very best care for all patients. (I alsways hated the term "Nurse's Training," made me feal like a trained seal.)