"Yes, I have worked as the intake nurse before. One of the most common things I find is that many patients entering treatment are prone to omit certain parts about their addiction history. It may be that they disclose one drug that they used, but do not mention another, or that they downplay the seriousness of their level of addiction."

"I have not had the opportunity to work as an intake nurse yet. Most of my experience has been as a direct care addiction nurse. I have noticed, though, that many clients in early treatment try to minimize the severity of their addiction. This makes it difficult for us to address some of the issues that they need to face, but with time, many of them do open up more."

"I have worked as both an intake nurse and a direct care addiction nurse. Intake nurses have the challenge of trying to get as much information from the patient as possible before he/she is admitted into the treatment program. Many clients are not willing to share all of their information. For instance, they may mention one drug that they have used while omitting facts about another drug or alcohol addiction. This is when having a release of information signed and someone from whom we can obtain collateral information is important. The more accurate a history we can obtain prior to treatment beginning, the better plan of care we can prepare and begin to implement."