Questions On Health Care Management

As the healthcare system prepares to select a outsource company as its vendor for this project, what types of information should it give to and gather from each vendor under consideration?

Opioids are a class of drugs used to help an individual’s pain perception. They include prescriptive and nonprescriptive medications: morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, and fentanyl. Heroin is also an opioid, but it is a classified Schedule 1 illegal drug.

Continuous and life-long learning- Unlike other professions in healthcare field one has to keep in pace with the updates going on, know the new technology,

Opioids are classified as opium like compounds; some (ex. codeine and morphine) exist naturally in opium, which is a gummy substance derived from the seedpod of the opium poppy, indigenous to Southern Asia. Other opioids are of the synthetic category, such as methadone or fentanyl (opioidaddictionsource.com). Though the use of prescription opioids may be well intended, due to their effect on the brain chemistry, it is fairly common for one to become addicted to them; America is amidst a raging prescription opioid epidemic, in fact.

Opioids are drugs that come from opium. Opium is the dried latex which comes from the opium poppy seed. These drugs create an euphoric effect on the brain. They attach to receptors in the brain to release opium. There are four classes of opioids. Endogenous opioids which the body release on its own at moments of joy. Opium alkaloid, semi-synthetic opioids, and fully-synthetic opioid which are all human made chemically in labs.

Substances are placed in their respective schedules based on whether they have a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, their relative abuse potential, and likelihood of causing dependence when abused.? All of this information has been confirmed by the FDA.

and?Demerol? among others. These drugs are also classified as a schedule II drug. Substances in this schedule have a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. Substances are placed in their respective schedules based on whether they have a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, their relative abuse potential, and likelihood of causing dependence when abused.? All of this information has been confirmed by the FDA.

Opioids are a type of drug that consist of a similar chemical structure as the illegal drug known as heroin and legally available through prescription drugs known as: hydrocodone,

As we all have researched and found out the devastating numbers to the opioid epidemic “the abuse of prescription and non-prescription opioids is one of the greatest threats facing public health in the United States today. It is estimated that as many as 2.5 million people in the US are suffering from opioid addiction related to prescriptions, and an additional 467,000 are addicted to heroin”(2017).

Opioids are a class of drugs that are designed to relieve pain. They are synthetic forms of the naturally occurring opiate opium along with morphine and codeine, which are parts of the opium poppy. Prescription opioids include the painkillers hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet), fentanyl (Duragesic), meperidine (Demerol), and hydromorphone (Dilaudid), amongst others. Opioids of this variety are prescribed for a variety of reasons ranging from severe acute pain resulting from injury to post surgery pain relief. Illicit opioids include heroin and any opioids that are not taken are prescribed. While helpful in treating pain that needs immediate attention, prescription opioids are not ideal to treat chronic pain. Opioids, both prescribed and illicit, are highly addictive and potentially dangerous.

According to the Department of Health and Human services, over 650,000 opioid prescriptions are dispensed in one day. This translates to around 230 million prescriptions each year. This amount just barely falls short of being high enough to give every adult in the United States their own bottle of opioid pills. The loose prescribing habits of medical professionals are to blame for these absurdly high numbers. Current doctors will prescribe an opiate-based painkiller for anything from a backache, toothache, to even headaches. To give patients “highly addictive” drugs for low scale chronic pain over the three-days recommended max incurs high risk for tolerance, dependence, and potential addiction to opioids. Some would argue that doctors are simply doing their job by solving their patient’s pain problem and that people should not intrude upon a medical professional’s expertise. However, while doctors should be unbiased pillars of medical advice and treatment, they should also take into account the risks involved with their treatment for their patient’s sake. Particularly for opioid prescriptions, doctors should have to abide by dosing criteria, receive guidance on when to seek consultation, and know how to use their state’s prescription drug monitoring program (Alexander et al., 2015). According to Alexander et al., (2015) Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) are underutilized by 81% of all prescribers.

Individuals who use Opioids are Addicts. The history of this very debatable topic is very educational and interesting. Opioids are drugs that are prescribed for severe to chronic pain, some examples of opioids are: morphine,?methadone, Buprenorphine,?hydrocodone, and?oxycodone.?Heroin?is also an opioid and is illegal. Opioid drugs sold under brand names include: OxyContin?,?Percocet?, Palladone?(taken off the market 7/2005),Vicodin?, Percodan?, Tylox? and?Demerol? among others. These drugs are also classified as a schedule II drug.

The figure is startling: A 96.6 percent increase in drug-related deaths in a five-year period (Hanson, 2010). According to Brown University Pharmacology Update (2009), since the period of increases in opioid misuse in the 1990s, data over the last three-to-four years indicate a high, steady prevalence of opioid prescription misuse in the United States. According to the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 5.2 million people ages 12 and older were current nonmedical users of prescription pain relievers in 2006, comprising 2.1% of the population. This rate has remained statistically unchanged since 2002. Survey data from 2002 to 2005 found that 4.8% of persons ages 12 and older (11.4 million people) used a prescription pain reliever nonmedically in the 12 months prior to the survey. This data also indicated that an annual average of 57.7% of people who used prescription pain medication nonmedically in the past year used hydrocodone products, and 21.7% used oxycodone products. Recent male users were more likely to use hydrocodone products nonmedically compared to recent female users (61.4% compared to 54.9%). Young

Opioids can be divided into three categories: Opiates, Semi-Synthetic Opioids, and Synthetic Opioids. Opiates are derived directly from opium poppies. They include drugs such as Morphine and Codeine. Semi-Synthetic Opioids are derived from Opiates. They include many prescription painkillers such as Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone, Oxycodone, and Oxymorphone. However, this category also includes the illegal street drug Heroin. The third category is Synthetic Opioids, which are not derived from opiates and include drugs such as Fentanyl, Buprenorphine, and Methadone.

Oxycodone, often sold as OxyContin, is an opiate drug that come is an opioid that comes from the poppy plant. Sometimes, Oxycodone will be combined with over-the-counter pain relievers like acetaminophen or ibuprofen to increase the effective and potency of the drug. In all of its forms, Oxycodone changes the way the central nervous system responds to pain by creating a euphoric and sedative effect. This time-released painkiller meant for patients who need of moderate to severe pain relief after surgery or a major