As a consequence, opioid addiction affects the life of
As a consequence, opioid addiction affects the life of
Nora D. Volkow gave a visual representation showing that the dispensing of opioids in pharmacies has increased in recent years. Volkow is talking about how bad opioid addiction is. Opioid addiction increases the number of overdoses and more people think it's ok to take pain pills. Prescription medicine can be very helpful to people that are in pain. But too many doctors are writing prescriptions for these people and the pills are too easy to get.…
According to the “Chasing Herion” video medical staff believe that the use of opioids can be in a positive way. Dr.Russel states “The likelihood that the treatment of pain using an opioid drug which is prescribed by a doctor will lead to addiction is extremely low.” Thus supporting this claim. Opioids will be used to treat AIDS and other pain causing diseases.…
8). It has been shown that prescription opioid abuse is creating an escalating burden on society (Birnbaum, White, Schiller, Waldman, Cleveland & Roland, 2011, p. 662). Opiate addiction as a whole, produces increased health care costs. Costs related to prevention, treatments, and research. There are increased costs of the criminal justice system, correctional facilities and property lost due to crime. Opiate addiction is known to decrease workplace productivity. Not only are there lost wages and excess absenteeism at work, there is also excess disability costs (Birnbaum, et al., 2011, p.…
The most vulnerable are those currently diagnosed with an opioid addiction disorder. These individuals are affected most because they are living with the consequences of opioid medications being addictive and over-prescribed by healthcare providers. Health Care Patients follow individuals diagnosed with opioid addiction disorder in terms of vulnerability. These patients are at risk of developing opioid addiction disorder if they are prescribed opioid medications by a health care provider. Opioid dependence amongst health care patients prescribed opioids could become a possibility.…
Longer-Term Use of Opioids With opioid misuse a top public health problem in the United States, this report examined longer-term use of narcotics in 21 states and how often recommended treatment guidelines for monitoring injured workers with longer-term use were followed by physicians. The monitoring included services, such as drug testing and psychological evaluations, which can help prevent opioid misuse by injured workers that could result in overdose deaths, addiction, and diversion. However, the study found relatively low compliance with medical treatment guidelines in most states. The information provided will help public officials identify means to strengthen the design or implementation of public policies related to narcotic use, and help payors target efforts to better manage the use of narcotics while providing appropriate care to injured workers and reducing unnecessary risks to patients and unnecessary costs to employers. Among the study’s finding: • Among 2009/2011 claims with longer-term use of narcotics, 18-30 percent received drug testing in most states studied, with the 21-state median at 24 percent. Over the study period, the percentage of workers with longer-term use of narcotics who received at least one drug testing increased from 14 to 24 percent in the median state. However, the use of the service was still lower than recommended by treatment guidelines. The use of psychological evaluation and treatment services continued to be low. Only 4–7 percent of the injured workers with longer-term narcotic use received these services in the median state. Even in the state with highest use of these services, only 1 in 4 injured workers with longer-term narcotic use had psychological evaluation and 1 in 6 received psychological treatment. Little change was seen in the frequency of use of these services.…
Within this assignment it is intended to present an example of a prescribing situation that arose in practice, to ensure prescribing issues are illustrated. The rationale for the decisions reached will also be discussed. A brief overview of the nurse prescribing initiative and how it developed will be addressed. The importance of ethical principles, accountability and legal issues that surround nurse prescribing will be demonstrated. As a patient will be addressed in the example, a pseudonym will be used.…
Lately, there seems to be a fine line between helping patients and curbing drug abuse. Since doctors seemed to be under prescribing painkillers, they eventually were urged to use the medicine that they had to help the patients feel better. This seemed to have gotten out of hand in the last ten to twenty years. Matt Berry says, “Although prescription drugs are necessary and lifesaving in many circumstances, the correlation between prescription drugs and prescription drug addiction is undeniable”(Are Doctors to Blame for Prescription Drug Abuse?). Doctors are aware of this alarming correlation and should have been…
The main focus of patient care was to control the patient’s pain. Also the patient experienced nausea, vomiting, and constipation .These symptoms were unwanted side effects of the opioids he was taking. During my placement the condition of the patient worsened. Pain increased, along with the side-effects of the medication taken by the patient. Some of the activities that the patient was able to perform independently became difficult, such as getting to the toilet and maintaining personal hygiene. The patient became restless at night time due to the increase of pain. At this point the amount of opioids taken by the patient was increased by the doctor, so that as well as the medication in the syringe driver the patient could take a set amount of strong opioids when required by mouth to relieve the pain. I will relate this care issue to the research article I have chosen to critique and discuss. These oral opioids where always administrated by his wife. The patient was unable to do it himself due to his physical deteriorated condition. However was always the patient that asked to take the medication when he felt he needed it. I have chosen…
Approved in 1995 by the FDA, OxyContin is “One of the fastest growing concerns for public health and non-medicinal use of prescription opioids.” (Roget 662) During the late 1990s and early 2000s, doctors could prescribe OxyContin to pretty much anyone with even mild pain. The pharmaceutical industry touted the infamous drug as a safer alternative to other common painkillers of the time. Only years later did the US public learn that “the very mechanisms that make those pills good at dulling pain are the ones that too often lead to crippling addiction and drug abuse.” (Piore 45) When prescription opiate addiction became a widespread problem in large swaths of the United States, the FDA was forced to drastically increase regulations that now make it extremely difficult for drug-addled opium junkies to obtain their drug of…
The opioid epidemic. It is deadly and has risen over the past decade or so to become one of the leading causes of death in America. It is an issue that we as nurses are uniquely situated to make a defining impact on. As nurses, it is our duty to educate patients, families, and anybody else we can. It is a nurse’s responsibility to teach the people who we meet about all the ways they can recognize an improperly proscribed pain medication or potential opioid addiction, an overdose, and what to do if they find themselves in a situation where someone is overdosing on an opioid drug.…
Opioid use disorder has a long history and started many years ago. When individuals use opioids, it can have serve consequences on the individual, community and the family. In this paper this counselor will provide a history of opioids and how opioids came United States. This paper will discuss how the theory addresses this disorder and proven treatments for the disorder. In this paper the counselor will explain the DSM -5 opioid use disorder criteria and the difference between the severity scales and how the individual may travel through those stages. The paper will discuss the legal and social consequences. Then the paper will discuss the cultural and social issues that affect the individual and how the…
How do we as health care providers help control or stop the abuse of narcotics both in and out of the hospital. According to Meyer (2009) use of a “non-narcotic protocol, of 15 patients who averaged 19 ER visits over the previous year for pain-related complaints were notified about the protocol, ER visits decreased to an average of two per year.” Should patients to continue to arrive at and ER for narcotics they are reminded of the protocol and offered both a non-narcotic medication, as well as, other nonpharmacological interventions such as ice or heat packs, quiet and darkened…
Doctors should not be the scapegoats to the epidemic because a lack of sufficient tests exist. Doctors can prescribe medicine to patients with malignant pains, medicine that can become highly addictive. Doctors prescribe opiates not fully aware of their true addictive properties, rather only looking at the benefits. Social scientist have seen suburban middle-upper class families affected by prescription opiates. This results from opiates being overprescribed to athletes and others with aching pain, without properly informing them of the risks. Teenagers have admitted to seeing prescription opiates at parties alongside alcohol and marijuana. These teenagers were not aware of these highly addictive opiates and the impact the drugs would have on their lives. Adolescents exposed to prescription drugs are one in fifteen times more likely to experiment with heroin (Curriculum Review 1). Unfortunately, this statistic logically shows a connection for the need of cheaper opiates, resorting to heroin. Teenagers who used prescription opiates eventually turned to heroin as a cheaper opiate to satisfy their…
Many believe that Naloxone is ‘the first step toward recovery” (Join Together Staff), but how can addiction be prevented? Out of the 1.9 million addicts in the U.S, only 517,000 were heroin addicts (“Opioid Abuse” 10). Nearly all heroin addicts come from painkillers after a while which increases crime rates and overdose related deaths. All of these overdoses could have been stopped if the root of the problem is pulled, which goes back to painkiller abuse. At this time, the government is tightening its hold on painkillers by enacting new laws and legislation that will stop illegal distribution, improve education on addiction, and safely helping addicts. Many argue that this would be too much money for the government to spend on the “low-lives” of society and that this money should go somewhere more productive. This government action is the best way to go because addicts can man up and go for help than continue to kill themselves. All of this expense will pay off in the end when it save the life of a neighbor, friend, coworker, or even a family…
I’m sure everyone here knows or has heard of someone that is dealing with an opioid problem. The misuse and abuse of opioids in this country has become rampant. Oxy, Vicodin, codeine, heroin – every time I read the news or listen to a news report there is always some mention of opioids. And while Dallas County does not see this problem as much as other parts of Texas and the rest of the States do, it is still a problem. We need to make sure that when those struggling with opioid abuse problems come through our courts that they are led to the best resources and treatments programs available. We can’t just continue to punish those facing a crisis with fines and jail time and expect their problems to go away. On the other hand, we need to be harsher with those responsible for selling and dealing. As a public defender I have represented both users and dealers and I can say from experience that the largest issue at hand is the inconsistency with which cases are treated. I will strive…