Alcohol Abuse Assignment

Assignment 2
Name
Course
Instructor
Date
Alcohol abuse is a concern since Ken’s performance and concentration might be affected negatively, and there is a need to understand how the work environment affects her behavior. There is also a risk that Ken might not provide safe and appropriate patient care, and it may take time to detect that the underlying reason for alcohol abuse. The issue of alcohol abuse is of interest since it affects patient health outcomes reputation of healthcare practitioners and that of health facilities. Additionally, the nurse is likely to suffer in silence and feel shame and guilt, while finding it hard to open up to fellow nurses. I believe that other than personal issues, the emotional demands of nursing practice as well as availability of alcohol influenced Ken’s choices. There is a need to tackle this issue since untreated addiction will compromise patient safety. Overall, educational programs can nurses recognize alcohol abuse amongst themselves.
The scope of practice identifies the guidelines, procedures and processes that guide nursing practitioners in their professional practice, and nurses need to identify the nursing issue, state laws, rules as well as standards in nursing practice (Anderson, 2013). The scope of practice in the commonwealth of Virginia is based on the state’s laws where nurse practitioners work under the supervision of licensed physicians, and this requires collaboration and consultation between the two (Virginia Board of Practice, 2015). The Nurse Practice acts focus on the laws governing nursing licensure, practice and education. The Nurse Practice Acts further identify the things that the nurses can and cannot do, and nurses need to know the state practice where the practice in. the standard of practice/ standard of care are then the guidelines developing from nursing practice acts, but they may developed from other sources. The standards of practice are broad-based focusing on the phases of the nursing process assessment, diagnosis, outcomes identification, and planning and implementation process in nursing (American Nurses Association, 2010).
References
American Nurse...