November 13, 2013

Dana Murphy-Parker’s article was featured as the top story of this year’s fifth issue of DEAN’s Notes, which is published as a service to the National Student Nurses’ Association for nursing school deans, administrators and faculty. “Implementing Policy for Substance-Related Disorders in Schools of Nursing: The Right Thing to Do” discusses the prevalence of substance abuse in the workforce, which “goes against the general public’s conventional wisdom that those with substance-related disorders are, for the most part, unemployed and unproductive,” Murphy-Parker wrote. She went on to document the exorbitant health care costs for employers, and for the country in general. The U.S. spends an estimated $414 billion each year on substance abuse. According to recent statistics, almost 300,000 RNs may face substance abuse impairment at some point during their careers. In her article, Murphy-Parker advocates for approaching addiction with “the latest scientific evidence.”

Murphy-Parker is an assistant clinical professor of Nursing at the College and is President-Elect of the International Nurses Society on Additions Conference.