Impaired: A Nurse's Story of Addiction and Recovery

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.
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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.