Identify behaviors and actions that may signify chemical impairment in an employee or colleague. What risk factors result in an increased risk for chemical addiction in the nursing profession? What are your personal feelings/ experiences regarding the chemically impaired nurse/health care professional? How would your personal feelings affect your ability as a manager to address a chemically impaired employee? Chemical impairment in nursing describes nurses who are “unable to perform their professional responsibilities and duties consistent with expected nursing standards” due to chemical intoxication (Huston, 2024, p. 683). Nurses are at particularly high risk for substance abuse disorder (SUD)—and therefore, chemical impairment—due to numerous work-related contributing factors, such as: fatigue, stress, workplace bullying, access to high-risk medications, and the erroneous belief “that as caregivers, they can safely self-diagnose and self-medicate” (Huston, 2024, p. 683). Three categories of behavioral changes exist that may signify chemical impairment in an employee or colleague, such as changes in: Personality or behaviors (unusual mood swings, social isolation, forgetfulness, changes in physical appearance, and severe defensiveness with medications errors), job performance (tardiness, inadequate or poor-quality charting, extreme increase in errors, unusually high number of patient complaints, completing the bare minimum tasks, dozing off while working, and are often difficult to locate), and attendance and time-management (unusual absences with insufficient notice or explanation, long or frequent breaks, I personally have no experience (that I am aware of) working with chemically impaired nurses or other health care professionals; that being said, I imagine I would feel angry should I find out that one of my colleagues was working while chemically impaired. Logically, I understand that substance