Paper Sample on Long-Term Pain Management in Hospitals: The Role of Opioids

Introduction

Long term treatment in a hospital requires a lot of medication. The opioid is one of the drug options considered to maintain pain treatment for patients serving long term admission in hospitals. There is enough proof that long term use of an opioid is used in acute phase hospitals to contain the pain. Despite all this, there is little analysis or investigation concerning the impact that opioid awareness among the nurse or the patients will have on long-term treatment of acute pain using opioids (Blackburn, 2020). This research exploits the commonly used research and tries to answer two critical questions: Which opioids are routinely used within acute hospital settings for acute pain treatment? The second research question is that the project seeks to find answers on what acute hospitals make and use opioids during a patient's severe pain stay at the hospital?

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The research Is determined to establish the two identified facts because of the increasing number of prescriptions of opioids registered in hospitals every day. The numerous medicines put a lot of patients in danger (Blackburn, 2020). It is for the speculated threat that the research seeks to determine the level of awareness of the nurses on the effects of opioids so that its use is limited for long term treatment in acute pain for patients who stay long in hospitals. In a more palatable way, the research article is a benchmark process of the use of opioids in an acute hospital setting.

The article seeks through its thesis aims to justify the claims that within acute hospital settings, opioids are being used slightly above requirement for long term acute pain treatment because of lack of nursing awareness. The research article suggests that if the nurses and other hospital physicians were subjected to educational and medical knowledge regarding the impact of long-term use of opioids, it would minimize the use of opioids is acute hospital settings. Therefore, the article seeks to prove that morphine and codeine, which are highly prescribed to patients for long-term treatment of severe pain, can only be reduced by raising awareness of their adverse effects among the nurses within the acute hospital setting.

Describe the methods used in the research

There were two methods used, as identified in the article. The first research method used in the report is an audit (Blackburn, 2020). The researchers carried out checks on the opioids that were frequently subscribed to patients. The auditing is done in one of the essential wards of an acute hospital setting. The colorectal and surgical wards are two of the neighbourhoods with the admitted patients undergoing the highest levels of pain. The two departments were selected because, within the acute hospital, the mentioned wards record the highest numbers of patient's turnover with the likelihood of being prescribed to use any painkillers.

Apart from auditing, the second method is analysis. The research analyzed by investigating the e-records of the pharmacy. The pharmacy team was required to provide the record requirements of each time that opioid was prescribed to a user. All the opioids' records administered to patients by the in-patient pharmacy between 1st January to 28th February were analyzed (Blackburn, 2020). The analysis was not done based on chronic or acute pain. The study was classified into short term users and long-term users of prescribed opioids. The positive about the method is that there wasn't any exclusivity from the data.

Describe what the conclusion was

Since the audit focused on oral and topical forms of opioids, it identified that opioids were routinely provided to acute pain individuals in the mentioned wards. Out of all, the opioids used the frequently used first-line of the agency were morphine and codeine. Records showed that the two had been prescribed by nurses more than the rest because they are prescribed immediately a patient is admitted. Other used forms of opioids for patients who have stayed longer in the wards include; Buprenorphine, Fentanyl and Methadone (Blackburn, 2020).

The nurses in charge of the research mentioned that the frequent use of codeine and morphine was positive. It is positive that morphine and codeine do not have drastic drug effects as the rest of the other forms of opioids. The two first-line agents (codeine and morphine) contribute a lot to pain reduction but do not have addictive and abusive effects. According to the records, nurses are aware of this fact. It is for the mentioned reason, according to the documents, the nurses only prescribe the rest of the opioids when they are under strict instructions.

Another conclusion deduced from the research is that most patients admitted and subjected to opioids are not sustained until the end of the treatment. Some patients are let free of the procedure. Even attractive, the patients who are discharged with opioids treatment are never admitted while taking the same.

What did you learn from the article as you enter the nursing pro?

There are essential lessons to learn, which include; First, pain management is an integral part of treatment and is directly linked to patient admission. Nurses, although they are aware of the effects of opioids, they are forced to recommend the drugs to patients. Post-operative care and trauma from surgical operations force the nurses to administer opioids. If further research could be conducted to find out medications with lesser addictive effects but the same pain treatment impact, it would be easier to use it.

Conclusion

As a nurse pro, it is clear that further research about context and factor is required before recommending that nurses need education and training on the extensive and long-term use of opioids. New research is also necessary for the management and planned discontinuation of opioids. If the recommended studies are not conducted, it is harsh to crucify nurses for opioid prescriptions.

Reference

Blackburn, A. (2020). An evaluation of opioid use during acute hospital admissions. British Journal of Nursing, 29(12), 700-705.