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The Opioid Use Epidemic: Educating & Empowering Nurses

By APNA Bloggers posted 05-25-2016 12:47 PM

  

APNA News: The Psychiatric Nursing Voice  |  May 2016 Members' Corner Edition


Educating and empowering nurses during a national epidemic.


Just talking about this crisis isn’t enough – we need to get treatment to more people who need it,” said President Obama during his May 14th weekly address, in which he shed light on the current opioid addiction and heroin use epidemic. APNA, in response to an invitation from the White House, is working to empower the largest segment of the healthcare workforce to raise awareness of assessment tools and intervention options for persons with substance use disorders, specifically opioid misuse. 


According to the Centers for Disease Control, more Americans die each day from drug overdoses than from car crashes, and the majority of those deaths involve legal prescription drugs. National initiatives to address and stem the opioid use epidemic have identified the overwhelming need for healthcare providers who are educated to recognize and address prescription opioid abuse and heroin use. With more than 4 million nurses who have frequent and regular contact with patients in numerous settings and levels of care, nursing has the potential to make a huge impact by providing effective opiate interventions. Nurses need to learn how to assess for substance use and provide interventions based on their level of education and scope of practice. APNA seeks to help meet these needs by providing free online continuing education to nurses at the generalist and advanced practice levels.


On Friday, May 20th, APNA piloted and recorded three educational sessions which were developed and presented by expert members of the APNA Addictions Council: Carolyn Baird, DNP, MBA, RN-BC, CARN-AP, CCDPD, FIAAN, Mary Kastner, PMHNP-BC, Laura Leahy, DrNP, APRN, PMH-CNS/FNP, BC, Matthew Tierney, MS, ANP-BC, PMHNP-BC, and Susan Caverly, PhD, ARNP, BC, PLLC. Each session was targeted toward a particular audience – generalist RNs, PMH-RNs, APRNs – and addressed specifically what each nurse can do within their scope of practice to make an impact on this public health crisis. Representatives from nursing organizations, including the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses, American Association of Colleges of Nursing, American Nurses Association, American Organization of Nurse Executives, International Society on Addictions Nursing, and the Oncology Nursing Society, participated in the presentations.


From a science and recovery based look at addiction to exploring components of comprehensive opioid use prevention and treatment (both psychosocial and medication assisted), the three presentations each take a strengths-based, holistic view of how nurses can provide evidence-based care and education for opioid use disorders. The session recordings, currently being edited, will be available for free in the APNA eLearning Center in the coming months.


Overall, the message is one of hope: Nurses have been described as the “backbone” of the Opioid Treatment Program system of care. With nurses aware of the effective treatments for opioid use disorder and educating patients, communities, and systems about them; advocating for access to a range of evidence-based interventions in their settings; and meeting the patient where they are to offer compassionate individualized care, we have the potential to make a real difference.


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