The Effects of Healthcare on the Opiod Epidemic
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The opioid epidemic has caused nearly 600,000 deaths in the United States and Canada over the past twenty years, with postoperative opioid prescriptions contributing significantly to this crisis. This paper explores the relationship between opioid misuse and postoperative prescribing practices in med-surg units, excluding patients with chronic pain, hospice care, and oncology. It examines whether limiting opioid prescriptions or increasing education for both healthcare providers and patients would be more effective in decreasing the frequency of opioid use disorder (OUD). Key risk factors of OUD include age, gender, socioeconomic status, and comorbidities, along with hospitals and their emergency departments' role in inadvertently aiding opioid misuse. Nonpharmacologic pain management approaches are discussed, including ERAS protocols, NSAID combinations, and complementary therapies, which include relaxation techniques, yoga, music therapy, etc. The nurse's role is accentuated with medication safety, patient advocacy, and providing ongoing education. In the end, reducing opioid misuse in postoperative settings will require a complex approach including education and training, careful prescribing of opioids, and institutional accountability/liability.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- Student authors waive FERPA rights for only the publication of the author submitted works.
Specifically: Students of Indiana University East voluntarily agree to submit their own works to The Journal of Student Research at Indiana University East, with full understanding of FERPA rights and in recognition that for this one, specific instance they understand that The Journal of Student Research at Indiana University East is Public and Open Access. Additionally, the Journal is viewable via the Internet and searchable via Indiana University, Google, and Google-Scholar search engines.
References
Gustafsson, M., Silva, V., Valeiro, C., Joaquim, J., van Hunsel, F., & Matos, C. (2024a, July 31).
Misuse, abuse and medication errors’ adverse events associated with opioids-A systematic review. Pharmaceuticals, 17, 1009. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17081009
Judd, D., King, C. R., & Galke, C. (2023). The Opioid Epidemic: A review of the contributing factors, negative consequences, and best practices. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.41621
Larson, J. A. (2023). An educational program on standardization of care for acute opioid withdrawal. Medsurg Nursing, 32(4), 244. https://doi.org/10.62116/msj.2023.32.4.244
Mazurenko, O., Andraka-Christou, B., Bair, M. J., Kara, A. Y., & Harle, C. A. (2020). Clinical perspectives on hospitals’ role in the opioid epidemic. BMC Health Services Research, 20, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05390-4
Zhao, S., Chen, F., Feng, A., Han, W., & Zhang, Y. (2019). Risk factors and prevention strategies for postoperative opioid abuse. Pain Research and Management, 2019, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/7490801