As a trauma nurse, I frequently encounter patients who are in agonizing acute pain. Many times it is the first time in their lives they have faced such pain. The health care team strives to manage their pain properly, but a careful balance is required while considering the effects of long-term opioid use. Health care providers must be considerate of the weaning process and monitoring patients to make sure addiction does not occur, especially in patients with a history of substance abuse. Unfortunately, opioid abuse and related deaths are at an all-time high, so pain management is a much more challenging facet of the care of these patients. According to the CDC, in the last fifteen years, the number of deaths linked to opioid overdose has nearly
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The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also become involved in working to prevent these needless deaths. Prescribers must perform a balancing act of managing acute and chronic pain to maintain the health of patients and preventing the abuse of prescription pain medications. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) worked with the FDA to develop a framework “opioid review, approval, and monitoring that balances [the] individual need for pain control with considerations of the broader public health consequences of abuse and misuse” (Califf, Woodcock, & Ostroff, 2016). Another provision to help reduce the misuse of these medications was the suggestion of labeling revisions and mandated studies addressing safety concerns related to opioid medications. The development of abuse-deterrent opioid formulations is also underway to help combat this epidemic. The FDA is also encouraging the development and use of non-opioid pain relief alternatives such as gabapentin, duloxetine, and …show more content…
According to the CDC, “Health care providers in the highest prescribing state, Alabama, wrote almost three times as many [opioid] prescriptions per person as those in the lowest prescribing state, Hawaii” without a health-based explanation for the difference (2016). Many states restrict the prescribing ability of nurse practitioners to exclude opioid medications. However, allowing nurse practitioners to become involved in helping to manage patients with chronic or acute pain could actually help to reduce the instances of opioid abuse. Nurse practitioners, when compared to physicians in areas of health care quality, safety, and effectiveness, had “comparable or better outcomes” (Stanik-Hutt, Newhouse, White, Johantgen, Bass, Zangaro, &...Weiner, 2013). By allowing nurse practitioners to become more actively involved in the care of these patients, we can improve patient education and strive to achieve better pain control with less addictive substances. While I understand the reasoning behind limiting prescribing access, allowing nurse practitioners to assist in managing opioid prescriptions could lead to reduced prescribing by enabling a consistent provider to administer the patient’s care instead of requiring a physician to see a patient they aren’t familiar with to make
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also become involved in working to prevent these needless deaths. Prescribers must perform a balancing act of managing acute and chronic pain to maintain the health of patients and preventing the abuse of prescription pain medications. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) worked with the FDA to develop a framework “opioid review, approval, and monitoring that balances [the] individual need for pain control with considerations of the broader public health consequences of abuse and misuse” (Califf, Woodcock, & Ostroff, 2016). Another provision to help reduce the misuse of these medications was the suggestion of labeling revisions and mandated studies addressing safety concerns related to opioid medications. The development of abuse-deterrent opioid formulations is also underway to help combat this epidemic. The FDA is also encouraging the development and use of non-opioid pain relief alternatives such as gabapentin, duloxetine, and …show more content…
According to the CDC, “Health care providers in the highest prescribing state, Alabama, wrote almost three times as many [opioid] prescriptions per person as those in the lowest prescribing state, Hawaii” without a health-based explanation for the difference (2016). Many states restrict the prescribing ability of nurse practitioners to exclude opioid medications. However, allowing nurse practitioners to become involved in helping to manage patients with chronic or acute pain could actually help to reduce the instances of opioid abuse. Nurse practitioners, when compared to physicians in areas of health care quality, safety, and effectiveness, had “comparable or better outcomes” (Stanik-Hutt, Newhouse, White, Johantgen, Bass, Zangaro, &...Weiner, 2013). By allowing nurse practitioners to become more actively involved in the care of these patients, we can improve patient education and strive to achieve better pain control with less addictive substances. While I understand the reasoning behind limiting prescribing access, allowing nurse practitioners to assist in managing opioid prescriptions could lead to reduced prescribing by enabling a consistent provider to administer the patient’s care instead of requiring a physician to see a patient they aren’t familiar with to make