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.

PROFILE OF A CHEMICALLY DEPENDENT NURSE -- PROLOGUE -- PART ONE: FROM DENIAL TO ACCEPTANCE -- 1. Impaired -- 2. Humiliation -- 3. And Now for the Bad News -- 4. Fear -- 5. Institutionalized -- 6. Repentance -- 7. Denial -- 8. Disease -- 9. Legalese -- 10. Walls and Secrets -- 11. Kindred -- 12. Turmoil -- 13. Religion -- 14. Legalese Part Deux -- 15. Deliverance -- 16. Sponsor-Angel -- 17. Emerging -- 18. Quack -- 19. The Great Oak -- 20. Losing It -- 21. Willingness -- 22. The Passionate Process -- 23. Hurting -- 24. Laboring -- 25. The Morning of January 22 -- 26. The Hearing --27. The Prosecution -- 28. In Closing -- 29. Celebration -- 30. Baggage -- 31. Judgment -- PART TWO: FROM ACCEPTANCE TO TRANSCENDENCE -- 32. Disclosure -- 33. Confession -- 34. Healing -- 35. It's All about Me -- 36. "F" Words -- 37. Sweet Pee -- 38. Blessings in Disguise -- 39. Eyesight -- 40. Emptiness -- 41. The Answer -- 42. Back to Normal? -- 43. Giving Back -- EPILOGUE -- THE PEARL -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- READER'S GUIDE -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR