The ANA has selected eight policy issues that it chooses to actively advocate for. Of these issues, the opioid pandemic stands out as a major crisis that the ANA should focus more on. The addiction and misuse of opioids is a serious national crisis in the US. Opioids range from heroin to prescription pain killers and even synthetic opioids like fentanyl (Singh et al., 2019). Mortality caused by drug overdose in the US has been on the rise in a dramatic fashion leading to the decrease in life expectancy. In the last 18 years, this mortality rate involving has increased more than four-fold (Singh et al., 2019). The effect of the opioid epidemic cuts across all ages, socioeconomic groups, geographic locations, gender, and racial groups. The opioid epidemic is so serious that it is currently declared as a national public health crisis.
The policy change is needed in addressing the opioid epidemic because the issue is no longer a problem in the US but has also begun spreading across the world. The US is considered to be the main user of opioids since prescriptions augmented to 219 M in 2011 from 76 M (Cicero & Ellis, 2017). The policy change is also needed because between 2002 and 2011, evidence shows that 25 million people abused prescription opioids (Cicero & Ellis, 2017). Even with the already widely known effects of these substances, Americans are still seen to indulge in the non-medical use of the substances. Some people prefer using these opioids as they are a safer alternative to illicit drugs, while others develop a dependency once their exposure during experimentation leads to physical dependence (Cicero & Ellis, 2017).
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ANA, as a nursing association, realizes the growing need to combat the epidemic. The organization suggests few ways to address the epidemic, such as expanding access to medication-assisted treatments, prescriber education, and increasing access to the opioid antagonist- Naloxone to first responders (ANA, n.d). It also supports various policy change bills that are in congress. Currently, one of these bills is the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act of 2019 (ANA, n,d). I agree with ANA’s recommendations for policy change because if the act is ratified, it will remove the need for applying for a waiver to dispense narcotics for detoxification or maintenance. Although this is just one issue, it would be a major step in addressing the opioid issue.
As a nurse, I can positively influence the desired policy change on the opioid epidemic in the US. I can do this by becoming a member of a professional nursing organization with lobbyists who will aid in making a case for the bill. I could also contact my state representative on the healthcare issue. I come from Texas; therefore, my federal legislative representatives in the house is Jodey Arrington, while in the senate is Pete Flores. If I contacted them, I would ask the congressman to support HR 2482, which is the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act of 2019 (ANA, n,d). I believe that nurses should belong to the ANA as a professional nursing organization. These organizations are handy because they have lobbyists who will take policy change ideas to capitol hill. Individual nurses can try to lobby their representatives, but their efforts might not yield as much as those driven by organization lobbyists.
References
ANA. (n,d). Opioid epidemic; The evolving role of nursing. https://ana.aristotle.com/SitePages/Opioid.Epidemic.aspx
ANA. (n,d). Nursing’s role in addressing nation’s opioid crisis. https://www.nursingworld.org/~4ae212/globalassets/docs/ana/ana_nursings-role-in-opioid-crisis_2016.pdf
Cicero, T. J., & Ellis, M. S. (2017). The prescription opioid epidemic: a review of qualitative studies on the progression from initial use to abuse. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 19(3), 259.
Singh, G. K., Kim, I. E., Girmay, M., Perry, C., Daus, G. P., Vedamuthu, I. P., ... & Allender, M. (2019). Opioid epidemic in the United States: empirical trends, and a literature review of social determinants and epidemiological, pain management, and treatment patterns. International Journal of Maternal and Child Health and AIDS, 8(2), 89.
