Should Traditional Painkillers Be Safe Drugs?

A comatose patient has the same rights as to that of a patient that is fully conscious, therefore, should not receive more or less treatment because of their condition. It is fact each patient has a unique situation but that should not hinder them from the care they rightfully deserve. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), was put into place to ensure and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system all the while protecting patient health information. Meaning the hospital and its staff are obligated by law to be given consent before treatment. To be considered legally informed a health professional must inform and disclose to the patient and/or legal guardian of the diagnosis, the proposed

Trauma patients often present paramedics with difficult situations to handle. These patients most likely have multiple injuries that the paramedic must treat including internal and external injuries. The main concern in treating trauma patients is controlling the pain that the patient may be experiencing while not compromising the patients hemodynamic and respiratory state. The most common drugs used in pain management in the pre-hospital setting often cause undesirable side effects, such as respiratory depression, hypotension, apnea, and bradycardia. All of these side effects combined with a trauma patient who is already compromised can lead to a much bigger issue. What if there was a drug that could treat the pain, calm the patient, and not cause the nasty side effects of traditional pain management? Ketamine provides us the answer to this question.

How would you like to meet the most expensive drug dealer in the world? There are thousands of them. They live in your town, they work with you, and can live right next door, your own primary doctor. Some people are not aware how wide spread drug addiction is. Most drugs come from our primary doctor. Prescription pain medication are the number one cause of addiction. There are three ways to help with the prevention of pain medication addiction, through education, monitoring, and enforcement.

38. American Journal of Respiratory care and critical care Medicine, Volume 175, issue 7, pages 698 – 704

In 2014, approximately 47,000 Americans died from the overdose of drugs. The fact that Americas drug problem has gotten this out of hand is alarming, but when taking a closer look at these numbers, it becomes clear that many of these Americans are not dying from illegal drugs like cocaine, meth, heroin, or marijuana. Instead, legal opioid painkillers were the biggest cause of overdose, resulting in approximately 14,000 deaths in 2014. In the 1990s, doctors began treating chronic pain as a serious issue, prescribing large amounts of opioid painkillers, and by 2012 doctors wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers. Opioid painkillers are highly addictive drugs that bind to receptors in the brain, reducing pain messaging to the nervous system. When scientists began to realize the harmful and addicting effects of painkillers, prescriptions were pulled back, causing users to turn to another opioid: heroin. The painkiller addiction problem became so serious that the Obama Administration has put 1.1 billion dollars into funding addiction education, prevention, and treatment; however, when doctors eliminated painkillers, they need an alternative to treating chronic pain. In order to suffice, doctors have looked at another controversial issue: medical marijuana. Studies have shown that cannabis can help treat chronic pain in most cases, and unlike opioids, marijuana isn’t linked to deadly overdoses. However, opposers are worried about marijuana’s harmful effects on the brain

Despite the fact that pain is universally recognized as a part of the healing process, ways to minimize its impact on patients have not been aggressively pursued. The modern perspective of pain merits the use of painkillers for both short term and chronic pain, but studies suggest that the likelihood of drug dependence increases with the intensity of the pain, extent of drug use, and frequency of drug use. (Elander, Duarte, Maratos, & Gilbert, 2013). Patients may prefer not to use painkillers such as opioids due to debilitating side effects and fear of developing dependence, yet there are few alternative methods taught to patients to help manage pain.

Ketamine can be used for sedation before minor procedures, although this use is not approved by the FDA

Marijuana is a great treatment option. It can be prescribed to patients suffering from a handful of things. Marijuana is also one hundred percent natural and virtually harmless. However, the same cannot be said about non-natural prescription drugs, which can cause more harm than help. Marijuana has a better and always healthier alternative to non-natural prescription drugs.

As of 2012, overdose deaths involving prescription painkiller abuse, have increased to almost 17,000 deaths a year in the United States (CLAAD.org). A pain killer is a drug or medicine for relieving pain. It is estimated that 2.1 million people in the United States abuse painkillers. This is a growing problem in the United States, but who’s fault is it really? Prescription painkiller abuse is very dangerous and is the fault of the consumer and the physician.

This consent has to be signed by the patient , the guardian or patient 's power of attorney . Severe reactions to the procedure leading to cardiopulmonary arrest / death are beyond the health care team 's capacity . As long as there were no mistakes when the procedure was done there will be no repercussions . Emergency apparatus and pharmaceuticals are available for any emergencies that may arise during the after the procedure

As research advances in finding answers and treatment for diseases, the process of obtaining a patient’s informed consent becomes more detailed required. The informed consent is known as the cornerstone of Good Clinical Practice for ensuring patient safety. In a normal clinical paced environment, time is given to ensure patients are provided all the required information and the time to make a rational and voluntary decision to participate in a study. At times this process is not feasible do to emergency situations, such as when a patient arrives in the emergency room in a compromised mental and physical state that does not permit ample time for this process. Such cases

The importance of safe and quality health care in today’s society must take into consideration the patients’ perceptions and requirements. Showing your clients dignity is absolutely necessary to gain their trust and give them comfort. Respecting patients specific needs, moral values and individual preferences is key in providing the best possible care. Encouraging and teaching the patients themselves to play a role in the management of their own health, rehabilitation or ongoing treatment can produce beneficial results. Another significant element is communication, and openly sharing medical information with the patient and their family allows them to stay informed and have knowledge about what is happening. These principles are structured strongly on evidence based practice, but must be morally correct also. Cohering to the evidence based practice helps to eliminate the safety risks for the patient and the nurse. By establishing high ethical standards and combining this with evidence based practice we are working towards providing an exceptional service to our consumer.

I visit my grandmother every month at her house. We relive all of the happy moments we shared when I was growing up. On my latest visit, she did not want to talk about the good times we shared, and seemed almost annoyed I was there at all. After searching around her house, I noticed an empty bottle of prescription painkillers. I remembered her telling me the last time I talked to her that she was starting to take a new prescription pain medication, but that was only two weeks ago. My grandmother would never abuse drugs, so why was the bottle empty already? I asked her about the medication and she told me that she was taking up to eight pills a day. She had misinterpreted the instructions and was

In future practice, other means of sedation should be considered, however if time is an issue then droperidal has the potential to be life saving.

Noradrenergic neurons in the locus ceruleus of the brain stem is responsible for the hypnosis caused by dexmedetomidine if it is hyperpolarized. The locus ceruleus is a small bilateral nucleus that contains many adrenergic receptors, which is the primary site in modulating wakefulness. Adenylyl cyclase is inhibited if α-2 adrenergic receptor is stimulated. Adenylyl cyclase enzyme enhances the formation cyclic AMP (cAMP) which is second messenger responsible for many catabolic cell processes. When cAMP amount in the cell is reduced, dexmedetomidine selects anabolic over catabolic processes.