Case Study: Narcan

Part of this team are pharmacy interns who distribute naloxone (Narcan) rescue kits to the patient every saturday morning. The naloxone rescue kits were donated by the Steve Rummler Hope Foundation. The Steve Rummler Hope Foundation partnered with HCMC with a mission to heighten awareness of the dilemma of chronic pain and the disease of addiction and to improve the associated care process.4 The pharmacy intern spends about fifteen minutes educating the patients on signs and symptoms of opioid overdose, how to respond and how to use the naloxone rescue kits. This program has been successful with distribution of a total of 150 kits as of October of 2016. In addition, patients often provide success stories of occasions when they saved the lives of a loved one or a friend using the naloxone rescue

The topic of Narcan is a relatively new concept, since it has only been easily obtainable in the past few years. The major debate on Narcan use is will it become a bigger issue the it fixes. Governor Tom Wolf in April made it public that all state police cars will have doses of the life-saving drug; Narcan (Murrysville). Supports, of this drug look at the fact that is has been credited with saving around one thousand people across the state (Murrysville). Furthermore, that there have been more than two thousand overdoses deaths, in Allegheny County since 2008; and that Narcan would have given those people a better chance to live. Equally important, is the negative-side of Narcan. Tom Wolf in February, made it public knowledge that free doses of Narcan, will be given to schools that want it. Those who believe Narcan will become detrimental to the fight against this epidemic have good reason to. Such as, comments from Dr. Neil Capretto who is the medical director at Gateway Rehabilitation Center; has talked before about his teenaged patients, that would use heroin or other opioids in the middle of school (Pennsylvania). If Narcan, is so accessible like in schools, police cars, and can be bought for personal use, this could allow people to push the limits on using these drugs. Also, by allowing it to used whenever is going to be like adding gasoline to a flame, it will speed the

Narcan may enable addicts, but with it commercially available, the heroin epidemic will be likely to decline. This wonder drug isn’t just for heroin and opioid abuse, though, anyone who takes an opioid drug such as morphine or codeine is at risk of an overdose(The Opioid Crisis). Accidental overdose is just as dangerous as heroin when it comes to these prescription drugs, so having Narcan available could save their life(Padilla). With 47,000 opioid deaths, 61% of those deaths could of have been saved with Narcan in the household (Kounang). In Conclusion, Narcan has the potential to save thousands of lives yearly, but with the cost and the false sense of security, is it worth

Opioid drugs are some of the most widespread pain medications that we have in this country; indeed, the fact is that opioid analgesic prescriptions have increased by over 300% from 1999 to 2010 (Mitch 989). Consequently, the number of deaths from overdose increased from 4000 to 16,600 a year in the same time frame (Mitch 989). This fact becomes even more frightening when you think about today; the annual number of fatal drug overdoses in the Unites States now surpasses that of motor vehicle deaths (Alexander 1865). Even worse, overdose deaths caused by opioids specifically exceed those attributed to both cocaine and heroin combined (Alexander 1865).

Various levels of governments in different communities across North America have initiated programs to deal with the opioid epidemic and its effect. Some of these initiatives will be examined in more details below.

There is no question that the alarming rate of deaths related to opioid overdose needs to be addressed in this county, but the way to solve the problem seems to remain a trial and error approach at this point. A patient is injured, undergoes surgery, experiences normal wear and tear on a hip, knee or back and has to live with that pain for the rest of their life or take a narcotic pain medication in order to improve their quality of life and at least be able to move. The above patients are what narcotic pain medications were created for, a population of people that use narcotic pain medications for fun is what is creating a problem. Narcotics are addictive to both populations, however taking the narcotic for euphoric reasons is not the intention of the prescription that the physician is writing. The healthcare system needs to find a way to continue to provide patients that experience chronic pain with the narcotics that work for them while attempting to ensure the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) doesn’t have to worry about a flood of pain pills hitting the streets by granting access to the population with a substance abuse problem.

A drug has become very popular on the street and you might have had it before. Over the last year a medical drug called Fentanyl has started being made by drug dealers. Normally Fentanyl is used in hospitals as a powerful painkiller so it may have been used on you before. However, fentanyl like most painkillers is highly addictive and dangerous. In fact, Fentanyl is 50-100 times stronger then the commonly known painkiller Morphine. It’s also 25-50 stronger then the modern street drug heroin. Because it’s so strong only 2-3 milligrams of Fentanyl are enough for someone to suffer a fetal overdose. A little while back; enough Fentanyl was seized in a New York drug bust to kill 32 million people. So now America has declared a national emergency

The United States currently faces an unprecedented epidemic of opioid addiction. This includes painkillers, heroin, and other drugs made from the same base chemical. In the couple of years, approximately one out of twenty Americans reported misuse or abuse of prescriptions painkillers. Heroin abuse and overdoses are on the rise and are the leading cause of injury deaths, surpassing car accidents and gun shots. The current problem differs from the opioid addiction outbreaks of the past in that it is also predominant in the middle and affluent classes. Ultimately, anyone can be fighting a battle with addiction and it is important for family members and loved ones to know the signs. The cause for this epidemic is that the current spike of opioid abuse can be traced to two decades of increased prescription rates for painkillers by well-meaning physicians.

If you watch the news it should come as no surprise that drug abuse and overdoses have increased dramatically in the United States. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as many as 36 million people abuse opioids throughout the world with 2.1 million in the U.S. who currently suffer from opioid abuse disorders (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). These astonishing numbers are only marginalized when comparing them to opioid related deaths in the United States. With an increase of 137 percent since 2000, deaths from drug overdoses now occur 1.5 times more often than deaths from motor vehicle accidents (Rudd Aleshire, Zibbell & Gladden, 2016). The opioid epidemic in the

This literature review will focus mainly on the drug use of heroin, the scary numbers behind the drug and the sudden rise of overdosing on the drug across the United States. Issues that will be discussed are what is Heroin, what’s in Heroin that makes it addicting, how it can increase the users risk of contracting other life threatening diseases and where it’s use and abuse are most popular across the United states and we will take a look at multiple studies that show examples of our new drug problem in the United States. While we looked at how homicide rates have dropped while in class, the flip side to that is that the amount of drug usage has risen.

Technically, Narcan is defined as a synthetic congener of oxymorphone, a potent antagonist of both endorphins and narcotics. In layman’s terms, Narcan is used to treat opiate overdose to reverse coma and respiratory depression; included in formulations of pentazocine to reduce the risk of abuse. In layman’s terms Narcan is a narcotic antagonist, that blocks the brain 's

In response to the ever-growing opioid epidemic in the United States, many elected officials, health-centered agencies and addiction support groups have been advocating for friends and family members to arm themselves with naloxone, an opioid antagonist commonly known as Narcan. Narcan (naloxone) can be given by intramuscular (IM) injection - into the muscle of the arm, thigh or buttocks - or with a nasal spray device (into the nose).

All of these cohorts can be risky, and the NP should reduce liability as much as possible when caring for high risk patients. This can be done by using evidence-based screening tools, using a standardized format for communication, and considering alternative diagnoses in a differential. One may also strengthen one’s practice and reduce liability by practicing self-reflection and inquiring for peer reviews of one’s practice. Completing a detailed history and physical and documenting detailed patient education and conversations will also help reduce risk. For those seeking narcotic drugs for pain, obtaining permission and reviewing past medical records for such patients and prescribing only a small number of narcotic pills for pain with a referral to a pain clinic will reduce liability for the NP (Balestra, 2016).

You so thoroughly explained the impact of narcotic diversion not only to patients that are suffering because of uncontrolled pain in the case you have explicated but also the nurse or other professional who runs the risk of losing their license in states where there are no processes in place to help nurses who are suffering from addictions. Addiction is a disorder that at the peak of it makes people do things that others will not even remotely conceive but the drive to satisfy the desire drives them, only for their addictions and the cover up to be uncovered sooner or later. As a professional, the expectations are stringent expectedly so because of the responsibilities that our licenses confers on us. In our state, we now have The Texas Peer

Practice implications can be divided into those significant to the Registered Nurse (RN), Advance Practice Nurse (APN), and the institution or hospital. For the RN, intranasal fentanyl will offer a less time-consuming approach to pain management. This would give the RN more time on the unit and less time establishing IV access and awaiting adequate pain control for a single patient. For the APN, it offers sooner analgesia for proper evaluation and diagnostic procedures. This has the benefit of more compliance for interventions such as radiology where manipulation may be needed for proper evaluation. Overall intranasal fentanyl protocols can lead to more cost-efficient care, higher satisfaction rates, and less resource use. All of these are