The problem of controlled substance use as well as addiction in America is on the rise and needs to be addressed. One of the interventions proving useful is the community-based approach. According to the article, addressing the rural opioid overdose as well as addiction crisis requires multi-sector collaboration. The article focuses on the roles of the community-based approach, such as Morris County Accountable Communities for Health in dealing with the problem. According to the article, ACH’s main aim is reducing the use as well as the abuse of opioid analgesic in Minnesota. ACH also aims at changing the opioids’ prescribing practices among the providers, and sensitizing the community on preventing opioid addiction, use as well as the treatment options. The agency has other smaller agencies, including Morrison County Community-Based Care Coordination that is based in Little City, Morrison County, and the State of Minnesota in the United States of America. According to Au-Yeung, Blewett & Lange (2019, pg. 260), the agency began in 2014 intending to deal with the problem of opioids use as well as abuse among patients at a local clinic as well as a hospital in the rural community. Currently, Morrison County ACH is working to reduce the use as well as abuse of opioid analgesic among patients in Family Medical Center and St Gabriel’s Hospital in Little Falls. Before the agency was founded, there were many concerns regarding the abuse as well as the use of narcotics in the community. St Gabriel hospital was recording a high number of emergency visits for therapeutic drug monitoring.
Morrison County ACH operates in an interdisciplinary manner to control the use of a controlled substance in Family Medical Center and St Gabriel Hospital. The multi-disciplinary team comprises a pharmacist, a nurse, two physicians, as well as a social worker (Au-Yeung, Blewett & Lange, 2019, pg. 261). Any patient in the Family Medical Center and using an opioid analgesic is required to work with the team. The team establishes a care plan for the controlled substance by either discontinuing the prescription of narcotic prescription or maintaining the patient’s dosage. The team ensures that the patient adheres to the plan, address any social health determinant posing a risk to overuse of controlled substances and treat any disorders arising from the use of opioids using buprenorphine (medication-assisted treatment program). To enhance the effectivity of the program, the team’s physicians collaborate with other care providers in Family Medical Care. Through the collaboration, the team encourages the CDC’s recommendations to limit the prescription of narcotic prescription.
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Morrison County ACH also leverages collaboration with County Prescription Drug Task Force. The task force is multi-disciplinary and consists of stakeholders from the controlled Substance Care Team, the local pharmacy, county attorney, Little Falls school district, law enforcement, social services as well as county public health (Au-Yeung, Blewett & Lange, 2019, pg. 261). The task force raises community awareness about the prevention of opioid addiction as well as use by providing education for non-medical and medical service providers, the general community, as well as the patients. The task force also facilitates community-wide collaboration in treating and preventing the abuse of prescription drugs. The tasks force’s deliberation makes it possible for the local enforcement to alert the care team whenever the prescription narcotics are in possession of the wrong person. The patient to whom the prescription was done is then contacted by the care team to avoid future diversion of the patient.
The journal is written for the stakeholders in the public health, public health students as well as the general public and is based in Little Falls, Morrison County, in the State of Minnesota, United States of America. The information in the article was easy to understand because the article is organized systematically into subtopics. The topics include the intervention, place ant time of the intervention, the purpose of the intervention, intervention, evaluation, and significance to public health as well as the sustainability of the intervention. Since the article is on public health and community-based methods of controlling the use of the controlled substance in treatment, the language used is not very technical and thus, easy to understand.
Generally, the whole article is interesting, but there are those critical elements that stand out. One of the interesting things is how the Morris County ACH leverages collaboration with a volunteer task force to raise community awareness regarding prevention of addiction of controlled substance, prevent and treat abuse of prescription drugs. It is also interesting how local enforcement can alert the task force when prescription narcotics find their way to the wrong person. The third exciting thing is the multi-disciplinary approach used to address the issue. The agency has recruited people from various backgrounds ranging from professionals such as physicians, pharmacists, local law enforcement agency to social workers and the community mobilizers. I would not hesitate in recommending the article to other students. The article is easy to understand and contains valuable information on how to deal with opioid overdose as well as an addiction which one of the most significant problems facing the society globally. Although much information was available from the article, I got interested in finding out whether the reductions in the number of patients using controlled substances was due to the intervention made by the substance care team.
Conclusion
Addressing the rural opioid overdose as well as addiction crisis cannot be successful without a multi-sector collaboration. Through the cooperation of stakeholders from different backgrounds and profession, Morrison County Community-Based Care Coordination has plaid a significant in addressing the problem. Although the agency has taken many steps in addressing the issue, there is more to be done to address opioids overdose and addiction completely.
Reference
Au-Yeung, C., Blewett, L., & Lange, K. (2019). Addressing the Rural Opioid Addiction and Overdose Crisis Through Cross-Sector Collaboration: Little Falls, Minnesota. American Journal Of Public Health , 109 (2), 260-262. doi: 10.2105/ajph.2018.304789
