Opioids In Nursing

Pain Management and Opioids Many people around the world have pain they are dealing with. Sometimes the pain in unbearable, other times it is easily taken care of, and then there are times when people become addicted to medications because of the pain. “More than 30% of Americans have some sort form of acute or chronic pain,” noted by Longo, Volkow & Mclellan (2016). Opioids are one of the main pain medications given to patients who struggle with acute or chronic pain. Longo, Volkow & Mclellan (2016) discuss, opioids are widely distributed and used improperly, and the wide distribution of this drug has resulted in many deaths and overdoses around the world. This has caused the opioid crises in pain management (Longo, Volkow & Mclellan 2016).

Misuse of drugs, such as opioids is a major problem in the united states, causing many issues in healthcare. Three issues/implications in nursing are addiction, when to initiate the drug, and knowing when to notify and how to notify a physician about the orders. Nurses must learn how to identify if a patient is addicted to opioids and if they are misusing them, noted by Pickett (2013). Many people are prescribed opioids for pain, and these drugs will show up on a urine test, especially if it is a high dose. This can make it hard for a nurse to know if the patient is addicted, so they learn about it throughout the patients stay, noted by Pickett (2013). This leads to the issue of when to administer drugs. Even though the prescribed opioid is due, but the patient has shown no signs or symptoms of pain, does the nurse administer it? Even if the patient asks? This is an issue nurses struggle with daily, because a nurse does not physically feel if the patient is in pain, (Pickett, 2013). This leads to being able to notify the physician. The nurse should notify the physician if they suspect addiction, because the problem with addiction among opioids is huge. The physician has the final say in all of this, so how does a nurse confront it? These are just a few issues that nurses struggle with in the opioid

Nurses should be able to identify pain correctly, know when it’s appropriate to give a pain medication, such as an opioid, and know when to intervene. Russell (2017), states that nurses are mandatory reporters, so when a nurse suspects and addiction it is important to report medication abuse to the correct personnel. Nurses have many roles in the healthcare field and many people look up to them. If nurses don’t have the correct knowledge about the opioid epidemic, the situation will become worse. Nurses should attend seminars, stay up to date with research and know how to assess a patient correctly when it comes to the opioid epidemic. All these things, can help with ending the opioid crisis in the