Fact Sheet
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Fact Sheet
The opioid crisis in the U.S. is the extensive addiction and misuse of illegal and prescription opioids. These drugs are in a class that includes morphine, oxycodone, prescribed painkillers and other drugs like fentanyl and heroin. For many years, the crisis has been among the major health crises in the United States, contributing to significant opioid-related deaths, overdoses and other harmful health outcomes. As stated by Real & Bogel (2019), The opioid crisis got much attention towards the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s when there was an acute upsurge in the remedy of opioids as painkillers. The opioid crisis has been contributed to several aspects, like overprescribing and marketing of opioids, poor regulation of opioids, limited access to substitute painkillers, and easy distribution by pharmaceutical institutions (Prieto et al., 2019). The outcome of opioid consumption has been disturbing; according to CDC, opioid has claimed over 500,000 lives between 1999 to 2019. However, the previous and current governments have put in place many efforts to address the issue of opioids. For example, there has been financial backing, collaboration between government and health institutions and awareness creation. These features have been crucial in ensuring the right step is taken towards eradicating and reducing opioid consumption and addiction.
It is vital for the opioid crisis to be included in the agenda for regulation because it is a public health emergency, and it has reached epidemic proportions leading to death, addiction and negative health consequences to the communities, individuals and families. Therefore, it is a problem that needs immediate action and attention, especially from the government. Furthermore, the crisis has led to a negative humanitarian impact leading to deaths and suffering in society. Hence, it will be crucial to address the issue through legislation to improve general health and save lives (Lovecchio et al., 2019). Nurses are well suited to participate in the agenda-setting pertaining opioid crisis due to their experience in patient education and care, advocacy roles, frontline experiences, teamwork approach and community involvement. Their lively participation is crucial in giving a blueprint for effective interventions and policies to address the issue of opioid addiction and usage and improve health outcomes.
References
Lovecchio, F., Premkumar, A., Stepan, J. G., & Albert, T. J. (2019). Fighting back: institutional strategies to combat the opioid epidemic: a systematic review. HSS Journal®, 15(1), 66-71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-018-09662-y
Prieto, J. T., McEwen, D., Davidson, A. J., Al-Tayyib, A., Gawenus, L., Sangareddy, S. R. P., ... & Shlay, J. C. (2019). Monitoring opioid addiction and treatment: Do you know if your population is engaged?. Drug and alcohol dependence, 202, 56-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.07.002
Real, B., & Bogel, G. (2019). Public libraries and the opioid crisis, part 1: Context and commitment. Public Library Quarterly, 38(3), 248-269. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2019.1626693