s upon the particular job. Burn-out and other phenomena associated with job dissatisfaction among professional nurses generate pressures that often are manifested in substance abuse. Substance abuse, in turn, more often than not leads directly to the development of impaired performance among professional nurses (Young, 1991, p. 4).
While the availability and access to easily abused chemical substances may facilitate such abuse by the professional nurse, it is not this availability and access that provide the primary motivation for such abuse. The primary motivation for such abuse lies in the reaction to the professional nurse to such phenomena as burn-out and frustration associated with conflicts involving professional and family responsibilities. In turn, then, it is these factors that are the primary culprits in the development of performance impairment among professional nurses.
Determining whether an impaired nurse may be effectively treated depends upon the manifestations of the impairment. Certainly, substance abus
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