Question

At a party, you notice that a nurse you work with is on the back porch smoking marijuana. Even though she is not impaired when she wakes up to work the next day, do you have a responsibility to report her even though it occurred off duty? Explain your answer. Based on your answer, the nurse may be enrolled in a substance abuse program. Perform Internet research and compare and contrast release of information forms used in an ordinary health care setting with those used in a substance abuse setting. What did you find? Lastly, give a very brief summary (1 or 2 sentences) on instances where disclosure of health information of substance abuse treatment may be made without written patient consent.

Answer 1

CANNABIS/MARIJUANA: It is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant which is used for mainly two purposes: a) medical use and b) recreational use. It also can be used by smoking, vaporizing, within food or as an extract. Marijuana is now legally can be used for medical and recreational purposes in many states and cities but in United States this usage is still illegal. Apart from these, Marijuana has some well-proven benefits ( eg: long-term pain relief) , but smoking marijuana can have respiratory problems on your body.

Ofcourse yes,  it should be reported to the responsible authorities because a nurse is meant for giving a healthcare service to the patients. It is a life-saving job. So it is the responsibility of the nurse to report and notice the person to a substance abuse program as soon as possible. Drug testing should be done before to conclude this act on the nurse and appropriate measures should be taken against this.

From the information released by various marijuana users, most of the healthcare professional lost their licenses and been referred to impaired nurse programs for testing positive for marijuana. However, most of the nurses still using marijuana in hospitals are not less guilty, they are just better at hiding their crime. So it is important to take action on every healthcare professionals for against using marijuana. Prior drug testing should done in view to halt this act.