The Opioid Crisis in Nursing

Opioids and Addiction

Opioids are a particular class of drugs, inclusive if the illegal ones, but which are available legally on prescription. A summary of the article, “Prescription Opioids and Addiction,” indicates that these drugs are frequently prescribed and in large quantities even though their true value of therapy has never been established. With the negative effects, continuing to grow, the addictive pharmacologic characteristics of these drugs explain why they still are being used (Miller & Gold, 2015). The article is mainly related to the course content in the sense that pharmacology studies drug action and this is critical for nurses. The knowledge of how opioids work essential in helping administer prescription, a topic that this article elaborates by indicating how opioids are frequently used without considering their minimal therapeutic value (Miller & Gold, 2015).

Impact on Nursing Practices

The effect of the crisis regarding frequent prescription of opioids on nursing practices is that the medicine-training programs have to be reviewed altogether because this is precisely where the problem stems from (Miller & Gold, 2015). Revising the curriculum, for example, can help nursing students understand opioids better and thereby prescribing recommendable quantities or even finding alternative drugs. Interventions can be made on matters to do with research work because one of the significant problems in a crisis such as this is a lack of proper funding for studies to be conducted. Once research is expanded, the possibility of finding alternative drugs or ways of reducing the addiction in the opioids could be deduced. Having relevant information on opioids’ addiction offers the nurses a large number of options to choose from and effectively providing a better solution for opioids prescription.

Reference

Miller, N. S., & Gold, M. S. (2015). Prescription Opioids and Addiction. Psychiatric Annals, 45(10), 516-521.