Literature review
The topic under investigation is opioid addiction and associated crisis. Opioid addiction is most commonly referred to as a chronic or long lasting disease that has been found responsible for major social, economic and health related problems (Hser, Evans, Grella, Ling & Anglin, 2015). Some of the most commonly recommended opioid drugs include fentanyl, oxymorphone, buprenorphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine, methadone, and morphine. In 2016, an estimated 20,000 deaths in the US were due to prescription opioids overdose, and 13,000 deaths due to heroin overdose (Genetics Home Reference, 2018). The literature review will address the crisis that occurs due to opioid addiction and the impacts that it creates on the health of the users.
Kolodny et al. (2015) stated that public health authorities have identified the unprecedented upsurge in the mortality and morbidity rates related to the use of pain relieving opioids (OPRs), and their primary efforts have focused on lowering use of nonmedical OPRs. They stated that the rate of use of OPR in the US has increased in the past 15 decades, concomitant with a doubling in the consumption of hydrocodone and oxycodone increased. The increase in opioid intake has also been related with a close replication in emergency admission for nonmedical OPR consumption from 2004-2011, and neonatal abstinence syndromes. This has been supported by Compton, Jones and Baldwin (2016) who recognized nonmedical opioid prescription as an important health concern in the US, owing to its high prevalence and remarkable increase in associated mortality and morbidity rates. Furthermore, an estimated 10.3 million people reported use of prescribed opioids nonmedically, in 2014. It was further stated that the form of nonmedical use of prescribed opioids differs, from occasional use once or twice per year to regular or habitual addiction due to heavy use. A key fundamental characteristic of the epidemic is the connotation between the snowballing rate of opioid recommending and growing opioid-related illness and mortality.
Results from a recent study further established the previously cited information and showed that the degrees of opioid prescribing in the US were found steady from 2010-2012, with certain medical spheres presenting regressions in the proportion of opioid prescribing after constant upsurges for several years. The study reports also elaborated on the facts that the rate of opioid proposing was maximum for authorities in pain medicine (48.6%), followed by physical medicine (35.5%) and surgery (36.5%). Greatest upsurges in the physical medicine units and large drops in dentistry and emergency medicine indicated diverging trends in opioid prescription (Levy, Paulozzi, Mack & Jones, 2015). Dart et al. (2015) also provided evidence for the fact that there were approximately 16,007 and 16,235 opioid overdose-associated deaths in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Upon the implementation of five programs from Researched Abuse, Diversion, and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) System, it was found that there was a substantial increase in the prescription rates of opioid analgesics from 2002-2010, followed by a reduction in 2011-2013. Thus, the post-marketing surveillance suggested that US was gradually progressing towards controlling opioid addiction crisis.
In the words of Muhuri, Gfroerer and Davies (2013) occurrence of heroin use amid individuals who testified prior nonmedical usage of prescription opioids was as much as 19 times higher than the rates among those without earlier nonmedical use. Thus, the authors established a close association between the nonmedical consumption of pain relievers and succeeding past year commencement of heroin usage. In addition, another study also elaborated on the fact that nonmedical prescription of opioid was largely responsible for heroin addiction, and subsequent injection of drugs. Some of the most common consequences of opioid addiction crisis were related to recurrent sharing of non-syringe injection paraphernalia, syringe-sharing, and careful sharing with parallel injectors who are supposed to be uninfected (Mateu-Gelabert, Guarino, Jessell & Teper, 2015). Three major contributing forces were also found allied with the opioid crisis namely, (1) moral imperative for all clinicians for treating and managing suffering and pain, (2) oligoanalgesia or pain under-treatment, and (3) identifying the impacts that the pharmaceutical industry creates on increased use of opioids (Weiner, Malek & Price, 2017).
Supporting the research topic
The scholarly literature identified above are of significance to the research since all of them illustrate the prevalence of opioid addiction across the world and also demonstrate the association between opioid addiction crisis with mortality and morbidity among the users. Some strengths of the studies were that they provided adequate numerical data to elucidate the increase in nonmedical opioid consumption in the population and were conducted across different population, thus eliminating chances of bias among specific racial or ethnic groups. All the articles produce results that demonstrate the widespread prevalence of opioid addiction.
Although all articles discussed above provided adequate information on the incidence and upsurge in opioid addiction in the world, the physiological and psychological impacts that are created due to nonmedical overconsumption of opioids were not discussed. Furthermore, none of the scientific literature elaborated on the role of physicians and nurses in preventing prescription opioid abuse. Little information was also provided on drug diversion and its associated negative impacts. This calls for the need to conduct a future research in the domain.
The area of further investigation would encompass exploring the nursing interventions that can assist in averting nonmedical use of opioids and opioid diversion. Owing to the fact that nursing staff are well positioned for reducing the incidence and potentially life threatening impacts of prescribed opioid diversion, the research hypothesis would be the following: Nurses can provide all patients with anticipatory guidance, in relation to opioid addiction and help in addressing the crisis (Krokmyrdal & Andenæs, 2015). The research aim and objectives would be to explore the techniques that can be employed by nursing professionals for lowering nonmedical opioid addiction, thus enhancing the health and quality of life of all patients.
Conclusion
Taking opioids for prolonged time results in dependence, and manifests in the form of psychological and physical withdrawal symptoms. Opioid addiction is primarily characterized by the compulsive and powerful urge to consume opioid drugs, even under circumstances when they are not needed medically. Most prescribed opioids are diverted to others or misused. Studies have reported on the high rates of mortality and morbidity due to prescribed nonmedical opioid use. Further research is required to assess the role of nurses in reducing the opioid addiction crisis.
References
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(2), 154-163. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1508490
Dart, R. C., Surratt, H. L., Cicero, T. J., Parrino, M. W., Severtson, S. G., Bucher-Bartelson, B., & Green, J. L. (2015). Trends in opioid analgesic abuse and mortality in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 372(3), 241-248. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsa1406143
Genetics Home Reference. (2018). Opioid addiction. Retrieved from https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/opioid-addiction#statistics.
Hser, Y. I., Evans, E., Grella, C., Ling, W., & Anglin, D. (2015). Long-term course of opioid addiction. Harvard review of psychiatry, 23(2), 76-89. doi: 10.1097/HRP.0000000000000052
Kolodny, A., Courtwright, D. T., Hwang, C. S., Kreiner, P., Eadie, J. L., Clark, T. W., & Alexander, G. C. (2015). The prescription opioid and heroin crisis: a public health approach to an epidemic of addiction. Annual review of public health, 36, 559-574. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122957
Krokmyrdal, K. A., & Andenæs, R. (2015). Nurses’ competence in pain management in patients with opioid addiction: A cross-sectional survey study. Nurse education today, 35(6), 789-794. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2015.02.022
Levy, B., Paulozzi, L., Mack, K. A., & Jones, C. M. (2015). Trends in opioid analgesic–prescribing rates by specialty, US, 2007–2012. American journal of preventive medicine, 49(3), 409-413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2015.02.020
Mateu-Gelabert, P., Guarino, H., Jessell, L., & Teper, A. (2015). Injection and sexual HIV/HCV risk behaviors associated with nonmedical use of prescription opioids among young adults in New York City. Journal of substance abuse treatment, 48(1), 13-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2014.07.002
Muhuri, P. K., Gfroerer, J. C., & Davies, M. C. (2013). Associations of nonmedical pain reliever use and initiation of heroin use in the United States. SAMHSA: CBHSQ Data Review. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/DR006/DR006/nonmedical-pain-reliever-use-2013.htm
Weiner, S. G., Malek, S. K., & Price, C. N. (2017). The opioid crisis and its consequences. Transplantation, 101(4), 678-681. doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000001671
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
