Nursing Interventions for Addictions: Advice, Counseling & Strategies - Research Paper

Introduction

Nursing intervention refers to the provisions of advice, counseling, and strategies in an attempt to help patients who are addicted. It is a process that is specifically planned and done by nurses or other family members. It is done while consulting a doctor or professionals who are already licensed alcohol and drug counselors. Addictions that warrant a nursing intervention include alcoholism, smoking, compulsive eating, as well as gambling (Burns et al., 2012). Individuals struggling with addiction find themselves in denial concerning their condition and sometimes are unwilling to be treated. An intervention offers a well-structured opportunity of making changes before the conditions worsen. This paper will highlight different nursing interventions for addicted patients.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Nursing Interventions

The process of intervention is a very effective tool that helps individuals who are addicted due to chemical dependency. It is a process that offers a reality in a way that will infiltrate the maladaptive protective mechanisms developing around the condition. It covers both in the individual who thinks is addicted as well as those significant in their lives. This process initiates with the nurse evaluating the scope of the problem together with the possibility that chemical dependency is the reason, as well as the primary factor.

The nurse will help in the identification of the individual being involved in the intervention as well as the capability of the patient or the group in carrying out the intervention process. After the identification of the individual, the other thing is educating and preparing the individual. When the person is sufficiently prepared, the intervention plan is then implemented. In the entire process of intervention, the nurse should take caution in remembering that the patient is an individual looking for assistance, and not that they are chemically dependent. The nurses should also know they are just facilitators and not interveners. Following the initial intervention, the plan is also vital, and the assessment should also be completed. The nurse should encourage addicted individuals to follow the prepared plan, and also assist them in overcoming the feelings they have due to the intervention. Since nurses are facilitators, they should have adequate knowledge of the condition and the process.

Substance abuse addictions are common, and nurses must anticipate them as well as their risk factors. These addictions are better assessed in patients by nurses using precise as well as valid screening tools, including the CAGE Questionnaire, which is used to screen alcoholism. Also, nurses should be having adequate know-how of all the laboratory tests that are used in assessing individuals who are addicted to substance abuse, which includes blood as well as alcohol levels. At the assessment point, nurses are, however, supposed to examine the patient's feelings so as to evade stigmatization of the patients suffering the addiction.

The most operative nursing intervention must contemplate the various needs of the individual with an addiction, not just drug use only. Nurses are also supposed to over assistance to these patients in overcoming all the barriers which negatively affect attitudes in seeking professional aid, which includes inadequate knowledge, renunciation, comorbidity, mortification, and lack of support. Furthermore, nurses can take part in various management modalities, which are forms of interventions for individuals addicted in substance abuse. These intervention modalities include conducting individual therapy to the person who is addicted to substance abuse with high anxiety levels and insufficient coping mechanisms. Therefore, nurses may conduct a discussion with the patient about the likelihood of relapse and refusal to continue with therapy.

When it is a group setting intervention, nurses may conduct a group discussion for the enhancement of sobriety as well as the willingness to share experiences (Mitchell et al., 2013). However, a lot of time spent in the intervention is critical in achieving sobriety. Nurses may still educate patients of addiction to have behavioral modifications, still using precise medications that include Disulfiram. Patients who have unembellished intoxication indicators of addiction should have recurrent neurological assessments, which should primarily connected to continuous cardiac monitoring by the use of the pulse oximetry.

Another process of intervention for addiction patients is that of detoxification. During the process of detoxification, the nurse is supposed to facilitate a very calm as well as a supportive environment in order for the patient and administering the required therapy as advised. Besides, in the detoxification process, activated charcoal might be useful if there is existing oral ingestion of the substance causing the addiction. No matter the case, abrupt withdrawal of the addictive substances is not suggested. However, some addictive substances like stimulants, as well as the hallucinogens, may be withdrawn without any replacement with other therapy because they possess very low notable withdrawal symptoms (Rice, 2016). During the time of the intervention, nurses might administer intravenous fluids and antiemetics as part of the supportive care they provide.

The last phase of the intervention process is when the patient reveals significant improvement. During this stage, nurses are supposed to endorse an understanding of any physical symptoms together with the means of dealing with them. It is, therefore, crucial for the nurse to explain the causes of addiction to the patient. Proximately to the discharge, the nurse is further supposed to encourage sustained participation for the outpatient support structure as well as the long-term treatments. Nurses should also instruct the patient on the alternative sources of fulfillment together with other managing strategies. Nurses may still take part in a mindfulness-based intervention process in lowering the stress of different populations (Rayan & Ahmad, 2016). These mindfulness-based interventions might help in supporting these patients. The addicted patient is supposed to recognize the relationship flanked by everyday life problems, including substance usage.

Nurses are therefore supposed to inform the patients that all the addictions are forms of mental ailment, just like schizophrenia and depression, which may be linked to inappropriate coping stratagems. The nursing interventions fixed to the augmented self-worth are highly encouraged. Nurses should also prioritize the safety aspect in assuring that the patient does not cause any harm to themselves or even causing any physical injury to other people. Nurses must ensure that before the individual with any addiction is discharged, proper support is given for the individual to undertake responsibility for his behaviors as well as verbalizing the significance of refraining any potential causes of the addiction. Most importantly, when the individual is discharged, the nurse should have a long-term follow-up, as well as liaising the patient with the community services.

Conclusion

The process of nursing intervention is a very effective tool that helps individuals who are already addicted as a result of chemical dependency. The intervention process begins with the nurse evaluating the scope of the problem, together with the possibility that chemical dependency is the reason, as well as the primary factor. In the entire process of intervention, the nurse should take caution in remembering that the patient is an individual looking for assistance, and not that they are chemically dependent. The most operative nursing intervention must contemplate the various needs of the individual with an addiction, not just drug use only.

References

Burns, H. K., Puskar, K., Flaherty, M. T., Mitchell, A. M., Hagle, H., Braxter, B., & Woomer, G. R. (2012). Addiction training for undergraduate nurses using screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 2(4), 167-177. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lauren_Terhorst/publication/237009011_Addiction_training_for_undergraduate_nurses_using_screening_brief_intervention_and_referral_to_treatment/links/0deec51ae02e189500000000/Addiction-training-for-undergraduate-nurses-using-screening-brief-intervention-and-referral-to-treatment.pdf

Mitchell, A. M., Puskar, K., Hagle, H., Gotham, H. J., Talcott, K. S., Terhorst, L., ... & Burns, H. K. (2013). Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment: Overview of and student satisfaction with an undergraduate addiction training program for nurses. Journal of psychosocial nursing and mental health services, 51(10), 29-37. https://ireta.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Mitchell-et-al-2013-SBIRT-Training-Satisfaction-J-of-Psychosocial-and-Mental-Health-Nurs.pdf

Rayan, A., & Ahmad, M. (2016). Mindfulness-based intervention: A culturally adaptable intervention in clinical psychology. Clinical Psychiatry, 2(3), 1-2. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d010/3fdda29de4b0b4e6730c5486e098767b7c15.pdf

Rice, V. H. (2016). Nursing intervention and smoking cessation: a meta-analysis update. Heart & lung, 35(3), 147-163. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147956306000288