Opioid Epidemic as an Health Care Issue

Over 20 years opioid epidemic has become prone to use in parts of the United States has spread greatly resulting in adverse effects among the citizens. Efforts and campaigns have been put forward to try ending the epidemic but to minimum success. (Madras, 2017). Having seen various governments departments trying to put forward strategies to counter the epidemic, it has been realized that those argument based of favoring opioid to be used as a treatment of non-cancer pain has been supported by solely traditions of the state medical boards leading to increasing of its use. (Murthy, 2016). Therefore, this paper is set to explain the fact on addressing the policymakers on the importance of including health care issue (campaign for prescription of the opioid epidemic) on legislation and the importance of the nurse in setting this health care issues.

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Firstly, prescription on the use of opioids for years is made so as to create awareness on the adverse effects on large consumptions of it despite its advantages in curbing long-lasting pain related to malignancy and terminal disease. Secondly, mass use of opioids has led to a high increase of abandoning the use of medicine where people tend to treat themselves by use of the drug without seeking a prescription from the qualified doctor. Thirdly, it has been realized that other people are using it for recreational abuse thus need to be legislated. It has been found that opioids are as much associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In general, opioids have been misused and abused leading to addiction and high death rate (14000 died in 2008 as a result of misuse prescription medication (Nelson, 2012), thus there is a great need for it to be legislated to enhance proper control on the use of the drug.

Nurses should be included in setting this issue since they are health professionals and possesses good knowledge of the drug use and its body functionality. They are also only one who can ensure that medications are much more effective and safe (Kemppainen, 2013). Since they are the one dealing with patients some having the problems associated with opioids, the can give a clear way forward on the control or to curb its effects in case of addiction and give a clear prescription on the use of opioids in case of pain resulted from cancer related with musculoskeletal or useful pain syndrome. In conclusion, this analyses the major reasons as to why nurses should be included in the agenda of setting healthcare issues.

References

Nelson, L. S., & Perrone, J. (2012). Curbing the opioid epidemic in the United States: the risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS). Jama, 308(5), 457-458. Retieved from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/1273026

Murthy, V. H. (2016). Ending the opioid epidemic-a call to action. New England Journal of Medicine, 375(25), 2413-2415. Retrieved from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1612578

Kemppainen, J. K. (2013). The critical incident technique and nursing care quality research. Journal of advanced nursing, 32(5), 1264-1271. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2000.01597.x

Madras, B. K. (2017). The surge of opioid use, addiction, and overdoses: responsibility and response of the US health care system. JAMA Psychiatry, 74(5), 441-442. Retrieved from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2612443