NR 506 Week 2 Policy-Priority Selection

Sample Answer

I have been having a difficult time choosing my healthcare policy priority, mainly because I am worried that it is one that is being talked about by everyone lately. However, with that being said, I have chosen the Opioid Epidemic or the Opioid Overdose Crisis. I have chosen this topic because it specifically has been a problem I have witnessed with patients, and people within surrounding communities. It also is something that could be reduced if laws were different.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2018), Each day 115 Americans die from opioid overdoses, which means nearly 42,000 people die annually from a preventable cause. I grew up in a town of 1,000 people, so for me to see this amount of people die annually is baffling.

The estimated total “economic burden” for the US each year is $78.5 billion a year, as per The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (2017). This is said to include the misuse of opioid prescriptions, cost of healthcare, loss of productivity, addiction alone, and the involvement of criminal justice (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
I think that as far as sources of healthcare policy, this policy would be at the Organizational level, because it would be required to meet FDA requirements, and have multiple organizations involved in decision making as well as including multiple organizations’ data. This would be a public policy.

This topic is important to me, because as nurses we all have a few patients that we say we will never forget. One of these patients for me was a 21 year old. He was admitted for altered mental status and was on a Narcan drip. Once he began to wake up he told us that he had just tried a pill and this is what happened to him. He stated it was his first time, and he had no previous history of drug abuse. The doctor then decided to discharge him this day, and everyone chalked it up to a young college kid making a stupid choice and trying a pill that was given to him.”

Not 12 hours later the same young 21 year old ended up in the ER. He was being coded en route to the hospital, and after a long attempt at resuscitation, he did not make it. This patient had access to Fentanyl patches and was apparently cutting them open and eating them. This was a definite eye opening experience for me. There are also been newspaper reports in a surrounding community about five to 10 Narcan kits being used each weekend. It just amazes me that this situation has gotten so out of control over the last several years.

References

• National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2018). Opioid overdose crisis. Retrieved from https //www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-overdose-crisis
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). National Vitals Statistics System, Mortality. Retrieved from https //wonder.cdc.gov