Helping a patient in pain can be a difficult task, especially when pain is not an option for many patients. A group of nurses and other medical professionals met in Baltimore to discuss opioid education and issues within the healthcare industry fueling the opioid epidemic, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Here are four notes:
1. Arundel (Md.) Ambulatory Surgery Center's Babette Suplee, RN, said educating patients about opioids and the potential side effects is crucial. An issue rests in the manufacturing industry where companies minimize or reject the notion that prescription opioids carry an addiction risk.
2. Other administrators face issues getting staff on board, including an administrator at a center in Annapolis, Md. The center's staff underwent opioid prescribing training and the team now provides patients a one-page information regarding opioids. However, getting staff to do this required a culture shift.
3. Ms. Suplee said some opioids, such as fentanyl, carry a major risk as they are very powerful and carry a cheaper price tag than heroin. She said, "More frequently now, according to the (Drug Enforcement Administration), (fentanyl) is being used in 'pill mills' and the drug cartels are specifically targeting pill addicts because it has less stigma than heroin."
4. Annuals of Surgery published a study earlier this year finding patients do not use 72 percent of prescription opioids for the five most common outpatient procedures.