Securing human health is the primary function of healthcare. For the most part, healthcare professionals have fulfilled this purpose. Every day, these professionals work zealously to provide patients with care that enhances their wellbeing. However, while most of the operations of healthcare practitioners advance human health, there are some activities which expose individuals to health hazards. Over-prescribing opioids is among these activities. Today, the irregular and unhealthy consumption of opioids has reached crisis levels. In 2015 alone, the US suffered over 33,000 deaths which were linked to the opioid crisis (Sholnick, 2018). What is more worrying is that a large population of American adults faces the risk of death (Sholnick, 2018). It is believed that as many as 4% of American adults abuse opioids prescribed by medical practitioners. There are numerous approaches that the US can use to address the opioid crisis. However, prescribing alternative remedies for pain holds the greatest promise for delivering lasting solutions.
Description of Issue
The introduction above has mentioned that the US has a problem with opioids. This problem has reached alarming levels and has prompted different stakeholders to add their voice to the calls for action. For example, recently, U.S. President declared the opioid crisis to be a national emergency (Merica, 2017). This announcement reflects the severity of the crisis and underscores the government’s commitment to protect its people. To understand why the opioid crisis has inspired the government to act, it is necessary to examine the statistics. In 2016, the number of opioid-related deaths in the US stood at 42,249. In addition to the deaths, the crisis has also led to an addiction problem. As many as 11.5 million Americans misused prescribed opioids in 2016 (HHS, 2018). The opioid crisis is not just a health issue. It is also a matter that concerns the country’s economy. In 2016, the country spent $504 billion on opioid-related expenses (HHS, 2018). One should not that the crisis has emerged despite assurances from the pharmaceutical industry. In the 1990s, the firms in this industry issued guarantees that the opioids would not have an addictive effect (HHS, 2018). The high number of deaths and the fact that the opioid crisis has reached astronomical proportions are clear evidence that the pharmaceutical industry was wrong about the devastation that opioids could cause.
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Relevance and Significance to Nursing/Healthcare
In an effort to improve the delivery of healthcare, the Institute of Medicine partnered with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This collaboration yielded a report which details the reforms that the nursing community and the larger medical fraternity need to undertake so as to better attend to the needs of patients. Among other things, the report urges practitioners to strive to offer quality and cost-effective care. This recommendation is among the issues that make the opioid crisis in the US relevant and significant to nursing. As mentioned above, the medical community has been implicated in the crisis. Practitioners are accused of over-subscribing opioids (Crow, 2018). The role that the medical community plays in the crisis prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue new guidelines (Meldrum, 2016). The guidelines are intended to discourage over-prescription and to challenge practitioners to prescribe opioids in cases where patients are enduring extreme pain. Going forward, nurses and other healthcare practitioners need to adhere to the guidelines and prioritize patient safety and the quality of care when prescribing pain killers.
The relevance of the opioid crisis to nursing extends beyond the fact that nurses are partly responsible for the crisis. This crisis is also relevant because nursing interventions hold the key to resolving the crisis. Lack of adequate training on pain assessment and management is among the factors that have led to the opioid crisis. Nurses and other medical practitioners face accusations that they regard pain as a symptom that should be eradicated at all costs (Morone & Weiner, 2013). They prescribe painkillers even to patients for whom opioid administration is an unnecessary intervention. The Future of Nursing report that the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation released identified lifelong learning and continuous nursing education as among the measures that will enhance the effectiveness of the nursing community. In keeping with the report’s recommendations, nurses need to embrace education. Through education, they will gain deeper insights into pain management, thereby helping the war on the opioid crisis. Therefore, the opioid crisis is significant to nursing because nurses are the cause of the crisis and can take practical steps to resolve it.
Prevailing Positions
The opioid crisis has divided the American people since there are different perspectives on the issue. Legislators are among the stakeholders who have shared their position on the crisis. Traditionally, Republican and Democratic members of Congress have adopted conflicting positions on a wide range of issues. The opioid crisis has brought these leaders together (Collins, 2018). In a clear demonstration of their commitment to tackle the crisis, legislators are considering bills which seek to introduce a number of interventions. The interventions include investment in painkillers with non-addictive effects and offering financial support to states which are bearing the brunt of the crisis (Collins, 2018). It is hoped that the implementation of the initiatives will ease the burden that the nation is carrying due to the opioid crisis.
The opioid crisis is perhaps the only issue that has united all stakeholders for whom this issue presents implications. In an earlier section, it was noted that President Trump recognized the crisis as a health emergency that requires urgent and concerted efforts. Trump’s position indicates that the executive is dedicated to ridding the country of the opioid problem. That the pharmaceutical industry is mostly to blame for the opioid epidemic is not in question. As already mentioned, this industry downplayed the addictive impacts of opioids. Moreover, its members have been aggressive in their marketing of the opioids. Even this industry has joined the country in taking action to resolve the crisis. Various pharmaceutical companies have come together to establish an initiative aimed at developing pain-relief medications that are not addictive (Davis, 2017). Moreover, this initiative also seeks to create approaches that can be used to treat individuals who have developed opioid addictions. That the very stakeholders who are responsible for the opioid crisis shows that the US is united in its quest to address the problem.
Personal Position
I have witnessed the devastation that the opioid crisis has caused. I know that this crisis has killed many and buried many in addictions from which they are unable to emerge. My experiences have inspired me to develop a position whose implementation I believe will enable the nursing community to resolve the opioid crisis. I agree that the opioid crisis has reached levels where action must be taken now. If we fail to implement measures, we risk exposing more Americans to the threat of addiction and threat. My personal position is that nurses should lead efforts to develop alternative interventions for pain. Currently, opioids are the primary approach that is used to treat patients in pain (Brazil, 2018). While the administration of opioids relieves patients of pain, most of them have addictive effects. What is more worrying is that the opioids often set the stage for the abuse of such substances as heroin. Most heroin users were set on the path toward this substance by opioids which were prescribed for pain relief (Compton, Jones & Baldwin, 2016). This fact underscores the need for the development of other pain-relief interventions. Furthermore, the nursing community needs to understand that while it is unpleasant, pain does not need to be eliminated in all cases.
The academic community has investigated the impact that alternative pain management approaches is likely to have on the opioid crisis. Results of the investigations indicate that these approaches are promising and should therefore be pursued. For example, such nonpharmacological interventions as exercise therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy are among the approaches that could help the US tackle the opioid epidemic (Volkow & McLellan, 2016). Biofeedback, yoga, acupuncture and meditation are other approaches which could also be used instead of opioids to manage chronic pain. While the non-pharmacological alternatives are promising, they may be inadequate and practitioners could be compelled to relieve pain using medications. It is therefore fortunate that there are some non-opioid medications which are effective pain relievers (Volkow & McLellan, 2016). Thus, the nursing community needs to work with other medical practitioners in promoting alternative interventions.
Implications for Advanced Nursing Practice
The discussion above has presented various perspectives on the opioid crisis. It has been made clear that this crisis has prompted action from various stakeholders. Whereas it is true that different stakeholders have critical functions to perform, the nursing community is uniquely placed to aid the US in its effort to eradicate the epidemic. For nursing practitioners, the opioid crisis underscores the need for greater education. It is particularly important for the practitioners to familiarize themselves with pain assessment and treatment guidelines (Jukiewicz et al., 2017). Another implication of the crisis for advanced nursing practice concerns the need for the nursing community to focus interventions on vulnerable patient populations. It has been observed that the rate of opioid prescription is highest among older patients (Hoban, 2017). This observation should prompt nurses to prioritize older patients when developing alternative pain relief approaches.
Non-opioid approaches to treating pain promise to resolve the opioid crisis. However, the nursing community cannot sit by and hope that these approaches work. They need to be proactive and develop interventions which will accelerate the eradication of the crisis. The members of the nursing community are urged to participate in the development of programs through which opioid addicts are treated (Naegle et al., 2017). This is another implication of the crisis for advanced nursing practice. Practitioners have an obligation to take all necessary steps to deliver treatment to addicts. In addition to helping addicts and adhering to prescription guidelines, advanced nurse practitioners could also impose pressure on legislators to take action. There are a number of promising solutions whose implementation could be hampered by restrictive laws. For example, medical cannabis is among the substances that can be used to treat pain (Vyas, LeBaron & Gilson, 2018). If the US is to find success in its effort to solve the opioid crisis, the nursing community needs to join forces with other stakeholders. Since all the stakeholders agree that the crisis demands urgent action, it should be fairly easy to implement a multi-stakeholder approach.
In conclusion, the US healthcare system struggles to fulfill its mandate. Despite the dedication of healthcare providers, the system has been unable to adequately address the needs of Americans. The opioid epidemic is among the factors that hamper the efforts of the medical community. This epidemic is responsible for thousands of deaths. Moreover, many Americans are struggling with addiction as a result of the crisis. Legislators, medical practitioners and the pharmaceutical industry agree that the no resource should be spared in resolving this crisis. It is important for the US to convert this consensus into action. Investing in alternative pain relief interventions is among the measures that the country can institute. For this measure to be effective, the nursing community should support it fully.
References
Brazil, R. (2018). Pain relief: designing better opioids. The Pharmaceutical Journal. Retrieved July 2, 2018 from https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/features/pain-relief-designing-better-opioids/20204708.article?firstPass=false
Collins, M. (2018). Congress searches for prescription to help fight the growing opioid Epidemi c. USA Today. Retrieved July 2, 2018 from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/04/11/congress-searches-prescription-help-fight-growing-opioid-epidemic/504181002/
Compton, W. M., Jones, C. M., & Baldwin, G. T. (2016). Relationship between nonmedical Prescription-opioid use and heroin use. New England Journal of Medicine, 374, 154-162. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1508490
Crow, D. (2018). US opioid prescriptions in record decline. Financial Times . Retrieved July 2, 2018 from https://www.ft.com/content/895f30a6-434f-11e8-803a-295c97e6fd0b
Davis, B. (2017). Drug companies collaborate to take on the opioid crisis. Elsevier. Retrieved July 2, 2018 from https://pharma.elsevier.com/pharma-rd/drug-companies-collaborate-opioid-crisis/
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Jukiewicz, D. A., Alhofaian, A., Thompson, Z., & Gary, F. A. (2017). Reviewing opioid use, Monitoring, and legislature: nursing perspectives. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 4 (4), 430-6.
Meldrum, M. L. (2016). The ongoing opioid prescription epidemic: historical context. American Journal of Public Health, 106 (8), 1365-6.
Merica, D. (2017). Trump declares opioid epidemic a national public health emergency. CNN. Retrieved July 2, 2018 from https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/26/politics/donald-trump-opioid-epidemic/index.html
Morone, N. E., & Weiner, D. K. (2013). Pain as the 5th vital sign: exposing the vital need for Pain education. Clinical Therapeutics, 35 (11), 1728-32.
Naegle, M., Mitchell, A. M., Flinter, M., Dunphy, L., Vanhook, P., & Delaney, K. R. (2017). Opioid misuse epidemic: addressing opioid prescribing and organization initiatives for
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Sholnick, P. (2018). The opioid epidemic: crisis and solutions. Annual review of pharmacology And Toxicology, 58, 143-159. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010617-052534
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). (2018). What is the U.S. opioid Epidemic? Retrieved July 2, 2018 from https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html
Volkow, N. D., & McLellan, T. (2016). Opioid abuse in chronic pain- misconceptions and Mitigation strategies. The New England Journal of Medicine, 374, 1253-63.
Vyas, M. B., LeBaron, V. T., & Gilson, A. M. (2018). The use of cannabis in response to the Opioid crisis: a review of the literature. Nursing Outlook, 66 (1), 56-65.
