Wk 6 Assignment

Prescribing opioids should be avoided when possible and when there is no other option; the number of prescribed pills should be limited to less than a month’s supply. A thirty-day supply or more of opioids increases the chances of dependency and can cause brain damage (NIH, 2019). Avoiding non-medical use of prescription medications is a critical part of providing quality patient care. Therefore, healthcare providers need to evaluate and identify the genuine medical needs of patients when placing them on opioids for pain management; the potential risk for misuse, abuse, and addiction should be considered. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates the total "economic burden" of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States at $78.5 billion per year (CDC, 2019). The misuse and over prescribing of opioids has become a public health emergency with overwhelming consequences including an increase in opioid abuse and overdoses. I have personally seen the harm opioids cause with patients and loved ones, they are dangerous and the recovery process can be scary and deadly. Often times healthcare providers do not understand how to provided proper treatment for patients with an opioid abuse problem. In many cases, healthcare providers are not utilizing resources and treatment options to help the patient with their addiction.

Addiction to opioids is a disease and should be treated as such. Healthcare providers need to change the way they see opioid addiction. A personal goal of mine has always been to give back to the community I live in by providing better resources and treatment options to treat all addictions. Currently my community is struggling with opioid addiction. Healthcare providers are not sufficiently trained in treating addiction and struggle in finding affordable resources for patients battling this disease. In my current field of study, I hope to gain the knowledge and skills to accomplish my ultimate goal of improving patient access to treatment and recovery services. I would like to strengthen provider understanding of the crisis and encouraging the use of overdose reversing medications. I hope to one day be able to provide support for research on pain management and addiction in order to provide safe, effective, and non-addictive methods to manage chronic pain.

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