A change agent is an individual working within an organization that helps the organization transform by improving business’ processes and operational functionality and efficiency. A nurse as a change agent can play a crucial role in the implementation and execution of policy since nurses are foot soldiers with regards to any healthcare system. They are well versed with the effects of medicine on patients due to the close interaction shared between patients and nurses.
The opioid epidemic has ravaged a lot of people, especially in the United States. The youth have borne the brunt with regards to the opioid epidemic even though this scourge affects people across all age groups. Opioids are opium-based drugs used mainly for pain-relief (Rutkow & Vernick, 2017). They include commonly abused drugs such as heroin, oxycodone, morphine, and codeine (Berkun, Khechen & Berkun, 2016). In 2016 alone, there were over sixty thousand deaths in the United States as a result of drug overdose with over two-thirds of this number emanating from the abuse of opioids, as a result of which the president declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency.
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The role of the nurse and the scope of their responsibilities is further widened by this epidemic being the worst ever public health crisis in United States history. Nurses offer education, issue prescriptions, dispense medications and provide overall physical and mental health care to patients struggling with opioid addiction (Leahy, 2017). The nurses are thus charged with navigating the change required in the healthcare system with a focus on the patient and the provision of safe and reliable care. This includes meticulous observation of the improvement required in bringing forth and implementing more favorable pain-control options as opposed to the use or disbursement of opioids to patients. As healthcare personnel practicing on the front lines of the opioid epidemic, registered nurses are equipped and well positioned to play a vital role in assessing, diagnosing and managing patients battling opioid addiction.
References
Berkun, R., Khechen, B., & Berkun, R. (2016). Opioid Addiction: Addressing the Crisis of a National Opioid Overdose Epidemic. Journal of Pain & Relief , 05 (06). http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2167-0846.1000271
Leahy, L. (2017). The Opioid Epidemic: What Does it Mean for Nurses? Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services , 55 (1), 18-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.3928/02793695-20170119-03
Rutkow, L., & Vernick, J. (2017). Emergency Legal Authority and the Opioid Crisis. New England Journal of Medicine , 377 (26), 2512-2514. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/nejmp1710862
