Objective: To describe the risk of depression, alcoholism, smoking, and psychoactive substance use and the variables associated to abuse in nursing personnel at two hospitals in the metropolitan area of Medellin. Methodology: Cross-sectional study that explores sociodemographic and abuse characteristics. The Zung scale was administered to determine risk of depression, CAGE questionnaire to evaluate risk of alcoholism, and Fagerstrom test to gauge smoking addiction. Self-report was used to identify prevalence of substance abuse. Bivariate analysis was conducted to explore variables associated to abuse. The sample included 157 operating room and emergency room nurses and auxiliary nurses. Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 20 software. Results: Of all nursing personnel, 9.5% had risk of depression while 67.5% had used some sort of psychoactive substance. Alcohol was the most common (65%), followed by marihuana, hallucinogens, sedatives, and benzodiazepines without medical prescription. It was found that males presented a higher risk of psychoactive substance abuse (OR 11.07). Conclusion: Risk of psychoactive substance abuse, alcoholism, smoking, and depression were lower and similar to other studies conducted in healthcare personnel, whereas stress and depersonalization had a higher prevalence.