Impaired:
A Nurse’s Story of Addiction and Recovery By Patricia Holloran RN (Kaplan 2009)
On June 28, 1996, Patricia Holloran’s life changed forever when Drug Control confronted her for the theft of narcotics from the hospital where she worked. So begins a journey that will change everything about what she knows about herself and the world of addiction.
As a nurse in a labor and delivery unit, Holloran was working full time on the night shift and taking care of her three children, her husband, and her severely disabled father. She started to take Stadol, a narcotic ten times stronger than morphine, to help her sleep. She kept taking it because she could not stop.
Putting a face on addiction and recovery, and the taboo subject of healthcare worker abuse, Impaired takes readers on Holloran’s journey to fight for her sobriety, her nursing license, her marriage, and ultimately, to help other nurses and healthcare workers who suffer from addiction.
About the Author
Patricia Holloran, RN, has been a nurse for more than 30 years. She has served as Chairperson of the Recovering Nurse Community of Connecticut, a committee that oversees the anonymous support group, Nurses for Nurses. She speaks regularly about issues of addiction as a guest lecturer for various levels of nursing education and at conventions. She lives with her husband in Connecticut, and has three grown sons.
More about Pat Holloran on her website: http://www.patriciaholloranrn.com <http://www.patriciaholloranrn.com>
From Publishers Weekly
Though Holloran's memoir may read familiar for anyone with an addiction memoir under his belt, what makes her story unique is her insider's view of the health care and recovery fields. A nurse suffering an addiction to Stadol, a little known painkiller, Holloran kept her addiction a secret from everyone-even from her husband-while stealing from the hospital where she worked, moving on to abuse prescription nasal spray, and later to shooting illicit drugs. Confronted by the Health Department's Drug Control agents, Holloran buckled, joined rehab and a support group called Nurses for Nurses, and began the arduous process of fighting to hold her life and career together. A poignant rendition of the addiction-recovery narrative, Holloran's most important work exposes the failure of the U.S. health care system to protect even its own. Though little here will surprise (as addiction behavior goes, hers was fairly tame), readers will respond to Holloran's honest, personal, unexpectedly complex tour of the U.S. health and rehab industries.
Linda A. Barile, Ph.D., APRN, BC
Associate Professor
Professional Director of HAVEN
FOR ALL HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
This is the single best book written for nurses concerning addiction. It is beautifully written with clarity, practicality and common sense- a delight to read. This most enriching book is a must read for every nurse. Instructors in all programs should assign it to all of their students. This book belongs in the library of every health and human service professional.
Other Reviews:
This story is one of the most heartwarming and informative I have had the pleasure and pain of reading. The author has an uncanny ability to bring you into her life and struggles with a realism that is totally awe inspiring. The book is truly an educational travel through the realities of addiction and the damages it can cause. It also shines a bright light on the problems faced by nurses in getting the help they need before they reach the level described. It also exposes the problems in dealing with a controlling and uninformed agency that is designed to protect the public. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in addiction and the uplifting of the spirit that comes with overcoming the problem. --John Oris
ADDICTIVE READING
This is a must read for all professionals in the health care field, as well as for anyone who appreciates strong, informative and thought-provoking non-fiction. It makes the reader aware that substance abuse is the girl next door as well as the 800 pound gorilla at the dinner table, and that the proverbial fall from grace can happen to anyone. It is also a view into the inner workings of a state's board of nursing and the courage and just plain hard work it takes for a recovering nurse to reclaim a career. Inspiring! ---SMI
AWESOME!!!
Being an RN Addict myself this book was wonderful. It helped me work through many of my feelings. It also has helped my friends and family exactly understand about my addiction, feelings, action, etc.
Broadened perspective
Having a loved one experiencing the struggle described in Impaired, I looked to many sources for guidance on how to best support her in her recovery. Understanding the depth of her struggle is key and this book provided new insight. With an impending appearance before the nursing board, the detailed description of the authors experience provides us tools with which we can prepare. Valuable not only to medical professionals, I enthusiastically recommend Impaired to family members, loved ones, or friends of nurses struggling with addiction.
Not Just for Nurses
I think this book would be especially useful to those in the medical profession - addicts, whether in recovery or needing to be, as well as their colleagues and administrators. There is a wealth of information that could help anyone needing to know how to navigate the path of getting help, especially if there has been disciplinary action taken. Others would also be well served in knowing the struggles of their co-workers to be able to view them with empathy and provide support.
Much of the information could be helpful to anyone, not just medical professionals, who is dealing with their own addiction or that of someone else.
I also am simply a fan of memoirs, and I enjoy reading about the triumph over struggles. This book is an enjoyable read on that front as well.