The utilization of a typical in place set health results and origins for community assessment can further these longstanding and significant enhancements by developing a mutual awareness of the components that affect communal health and by motivating regional multi-sectoral cooperatives into action. A Core group of health conclusions and considerations with uniform gauges for each would be founded on increased substantial investigation, constructed through intense discussion using a majority-foundation process, and cogitative of a concurrence of national, state, and local priorities.
The total population for the state is estimated at 1,056,426 (USCB, 2017). The population for Providence County is approximately 633,673 residents (USCB,
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Central Falls determined that Hispanics had the most at 67%, next is white at 20%, then other at 8% and black/African American at 5% making them the minority in that community. Constitution Hill Woonsocket like the other two communities list Hispanics as its majority at 36%, followed by black/African Americans at 25%, then whites at 24% and the minority of this area is other at 15%. It should be noted that all three of these communities have neighborhoods that are considered the most destitute in the state.
The data collected from the assessment should be utilized to identify and target problems/issues with the greatest importance, establish and rollout plans for action, and constitute liability to secure quantitative health improvement. The one topic from the unit 4 assignment was in regards to the horrifying outbreak of the opioid epidemic that is sweeping that nation. The information obtained from the Center for Disease Control revealed that the amount of opioids prescribed has increased since 1999 even though there has been no change in the quantity of pain reported by patients. Deaths from prescription opioids including oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone have exploded since 1999. 25% of people who are prescribed opioids long term with addiction. It is reported that more than 1,000 patients are treated in emergency rooms for abusing opioid prescriptions.
Additionally, in
Opioid use in the US has increased over the years, and this has led to an increase in substance abuse. Substance abuse is not only associated with use of illicit drugs but also prescription drugs. In 2015, of the 20.5 million reported cases of substance abuse, 2 million had an abuse disorder related to prescription pain relievers and 591,000 associated with heroin.1 The increase in substance abuse disorder has led to an increase in opioid related death. In 2015 drug overdose was the leading cause of accidental death in the US with 52, 404 lethal drug overdoses.2
In America, the use of opioids is at an all time high, it has became such an issue nationwide, that it has became an epidemic. Because of the opioid epidemic, America is tearing apart, children all across the country are dying everyday, these children are dying from overdoses due to poisoning. The opioid problem is not just because of a person's decision to pick up a needle or a pill bottle, but it is because in the 1990’s doctors gave up on trying to treat patients for their overwhelming pain and discomfort, causing opioids to become over prescribed. Due to the carelessness of America, opioids are being distributed more and more everyday, causing the skyrocketing number of deaths.
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).
In Nolan and Amico’s article, “How Bad is the Opioid Epidemic?” they argue the opioid epidemic has become the worst drug crisis in American history. Heroin and other opioids overdose kill more than 47,055 people a year. Deaths caused from drug overdose has outnumber as much as 40 percent compared to the death caused from car crashes in 2014 (Nolan and Amico 3). Furthermore, in 1999 there were only 15000 people died from drug overdose. This number has tripled in 15 years. Also, in his article, “America’s Addiction to Opioids: Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse” Volkow also presents the fact that “with an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012 and an estimated 467,000 addicted to heroin. The consequences of this abuse have been devastating and are on the rise. For example, the number of unintentional overdose deaths from prescription pain relievers has
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.
The United States of America has had a war against drugs since the 37th president, Richard Nixon, declared more crimination on drug abuse in June 1971. From mid-1990s to today, a crisis challenges the health department and government on opioid regulation, as millions of Americans die due overdoses of painkillers. Opioids are substances used as painkillers, and they range from prescription medications to the illegal drug, heroin. Abusing these substances can cause a dependency or addiction, which can lead to overdoses, physical damages, emotional trauma, and death. To ease the crisis, physicians are asked to depend on alternatives to pain management. Law enforcement cracks down on profiting drug-dealers and heroin abusers. People are warned against misusing opioids. The controversy begins for those who suffer from chronic pain, because they depend on opioids. There’s so a correlation to the 1980s cocaine epidemic, and people are upset over racial discrimination. Nonetheless, the best way to avoid this crisis is to recover the people at risk, reduce inappropriate opioid description, and have a proper response.
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.
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.
The community I decided to research and compose this paper is one from which I live, Kent County Michigan. I gathered data from several different resources such as the Kent County Health Department and Michigan Department of Community Health in order to create a community assessment. The data I collected can be broken down into four different assessment pieces.
My concerned is the current opioid epidemic in our society. There has been a significant increase in the use of opioid analgesics for pain control. There is a corresponding growth in the rate of abuse, misuse, and overdose of these drugs. As a nurse, I had witnessed and continue to witness patients coming in the emergency room from opioids overdose between the ages of 12 and 25 and this situation continue to increase in number. There is a significant increase in number of teenagers using opioid they buy from the street and others the opioid from family member who were given prescription and other situations
Prescription opioid misuse has emerged as a significant public health issue in the United States. Since the late 1990s, nationwide sales of prescription opioids have risen 4-fold, and with this, the rate of admissions for substance use treatment and the rate of death from opioid overdose have grown proportionately.1
Doctors and other medical professional specialize in providing quality medical care for their patients, are now fighting to control pain without the risk of misuse and abuse of prescribed medications by their patients. One disadvantage of quality care is providing opioid medications to help control extreme pain for some patients. Many patients have become dependent on opioid—highly addicted painkillers such as fentanyl, hydrocodone, morphine, oxycodone, propoxyphene, and methadone. According to 21 Health Organizations and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) cited by ACPM, “effective pain management is an integral and important aspect of quality medical care, and pain should be treated aggressively” (the American College of Preventive Medicine, 2011). Aggressively fighting patients’ pain with opioid medications have led to an increase rate of addictions to the level in which it is known as uncontrollable epidemic in today’s society.
A community health assessment is a fundamental instrument of public health practice. Its objective is to depict the health of the community, by presenting information on health standing, community health needs, resources, and epidemiologic and other studies of present local health problems. It seeks to recognize target populations that may be at augmented risk of poor health results and to increase a better understanding of their needs, as well as evaluates the larger community surroundings and how it relate to the health of people. It also identifies those areas where better information is desired, particularly information on health differences amid different subpopulations, quality of health care, and the incidence and severity of disabilities in the population. The Community Health Assessment is the foundation for all local public health development, giving the local health component the instance to recognize and network with key community leaders, businesses and concerned residents about health priorities and concerns. This information shapes the foundation of improving the health status of the community by way of a strategic plan (The Municipal Public Health Services Plan Community Health Assessment Guidance and Format, n.d.).
The roles of community in advancing the health status of the population are varied. While community participation is essential to advancing population health, evidence to support whether community participation directly advances the health status of the population is limited.1,2 It is limited because the role of community is constantly re-formulated to fit the needs of the population it serves.1,2 According to McLeroy et al, community can be defined in four ways: “community as setting, community as target, community as agent, and community as resource.” Due to the numerous ways community can be defined, generalizing the role of community and how it impacts health is difficult.
made using the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) and the 2007 Census of