Evaluating Back Pain

Jackie was one of the growing numbers of nurses who are impaired because of addiction. Sullivan (1994) cited that “nurses who abuse substances not only place themselves at risk for physical, emotional, and professional harm, but also create hazards for the institutions in which they work as well as the public” (p. 20). To deal with the issue posed by an impaired nurse, “nursing leaders must consider legal, regulatory, ethical, humanistic, and practical considerations in

Most people have at least one backache in your life. Although this pain or discomfort can occur anywhere on the back, the most common area affected is the lumbar region. This is because most holding bodyweight.

According to Burchum and Rosenthal (2016), “The nurse is obligated to administer opioids with discretion in an effort to minimize abuse” (p. 275-276). This can be difficult if the nurse does not use objective data and instead uses past experiences or their own judgement of the pain the patient is experiencing.

Many addictions to these opiates are caused by inaccurate treatment of pain by the patient’s doctors. According to Andrea M. Garcia, “Treatment of pain is inadequate due to uncertain diagnoses, societal stigma, the lack of effective treatments, and inadequate patient and clinician knowledge about the best ways to manage pain. Prescription painkiller overdose has reached epidemic proportions over the past decade.” When patients visit a doctor’s office due to pain, they often do not elaborate on the pain they feel or give accurate diagnosis of the pain they are experiencing. Patients will often over exaggerate their pain level in order to be prescribed higher doses of narcotics. Shoulder or knee pain is a very common complaint. Patients who

After a year in nursing school, drug administration and nursing responsibilities are firmly drilled into our heads. The 6 rights: right Medication right route, right time, right client right dosage, right documentation, and the right to refuse any medication. Before giving the medication the nurse must fully ensure that the patient knows what the medication is for and what to expect. The nurse must check the patient’s armband before administering medication, ask the patient to verify his name and date of birth, only administer meds the nurse has prepared herself, and if there is something the nurse is unsure about she should look it up or ask for help.

He is the best nurse on the floor. Everyone admires him – patients, fellow nurses, doctors, administration. He works extra shifts in the emergency department, sometimes as often as six shifts per week despite chronic back pain. What about the seasoned staff nurse? You notice a change in her. She is moody, appears dazed, and is making mistakes frequently. She is late and unkempt, and is not as social as she once was. While one may be quick to assume substance use from the second nurse, in reality, the first nurse is just as likely to be working while impaired. Substance use disorders can – and do – have a very serious impact on the nursing community. Determining, labeling, and reporting a substance use problem is not always easy. This is why, when entering the nursing workforce, it is important to have a working knowledge and understanding of substance use. This includes familiarity with risk factors and signs of substance use, as well as knowing how to seek help for oneself or a colleague. With an awareness of the implications of substance use on nursing, new nurses may be better equipped to take action against this ever-present occupational hazard (NCSBN, 2011).

In this phase, the patient reaches out to others who try to help him identify the damaging effect of addiction, realize that he suffers from the disease, and break the circle. In this phase, patient may experience denial, refusing to accept that he is an addict or thinking that he may result the problem by cutting down in the drug used rather than eliminating it totally. A counselor intervenes to help the patient to see the benefits of a drug-free lifestyle. A goal is set in place to restrain patient from using illicit drugs and to attend the scheduled counseling. Family should understand that approaching love ones during this time should be gentle and supportive. Caring for families, the nurse may identify an expected outcome that the family members will not take on the addict’s illness; rather, the family will provide support for recovery and seek healthy family functioning whether the family chooses recovery or not (Frisch,

I have been an addiction medicine nurse for five years, since my transfer from the Medical Surgical unit at Ohio State University Medical Center. In my role as an addiction medicine nurse my primary concerns has been the lack of knowledge that I have seen in both nurses and physicians caring for the patient with a concurrent substance abuse problem, especially in the acute care environment. For example, it was clear that the acute care patients with opioid misuse withdrawal syndrome were at significant risk for harm due to this lack of knowledge; and in turn, nurses caring for them were at risk.

An additional myth, “All that matters is easing my pain” (Hitti) which isn’t necessarily true. Yes, helping relieve the pain is the goal, but not the only goal. For those who have the mentality of thinking that the only target of prescription medication is pain alleviation are at a higher risk of addiction because they don’t realize the amount of medication they ingest while trying to avoid the ache. Last, but not least, “I am a strong person. I won’t get addicted.” Fisherman explains, “Addiction isn’t about willpower, and it’s not moral failure, it’s a chronic disease and some people are genetically more vulnerable than others.” (Hitti) As stated earlier if your family has a history of addiction there is a greater possibility of you having a dependence towards controlled substances. With all these myths, along with several more proceeding, physicians should be required to inform the patients of all potential issues, such as addiction, if mistreating prescription

When one feels that they are experiencing pain, anxiety, or sickness whether it is mild or severe, one quick and easy solution is to head straight to the doctor’s office. A patient will describe his or her symptoms of pain to the doctor and more likely than not that doctor will prescribe the patient some type of prescription drug or pain reliever. Writing patient prescriptions and taking drugs for pain has become a socially acceptable standard in society and has also become an essential part of medicine. Today, Americans are spending millions of dollars every year on drugs, both illegal and legal, and both for medical and often non-medical use. However, what many do not realize is that the widespread increase of drug using in America

The responsibility of regulating nursing practice that ensures public safety, health and welfare and accountability to the public for proper governance falls on the State Boards of Nursing (BONs). Substance abuse is the most common disease that affects healthcare workers (Darbro, 2009). The disease of substance abuse disorder is preventable (Darbro, 2009). The intent of this paper is to discuss the ethical issues of nurses with substance abuse disorder, stigma of addiction, challenges that nurses with substance abuse problems face to include acceptance of the disease, treatment, rehabilitation and monitoring, the incidence of addiction among nurses, how to recognize an impaired colleague, nurses’ attitudes about addiction within the profession and the ethical issues that the nurse, employer and society face when dealing with a nurse who is an addict. It was in the 1980s that professional nursing organizations recommended alternative to discipline (ATD) programs to help rehabilitate nurses (Sigma Theta Tau, 2014). In the past 20 years 46 states have gone with this approach as opposed to traditional discipline (Trussman, 2003). In most cases, these ATD programs provide nurses with intense monitoring for 5 years to aid in their recovery so they may return to work and provide safe patient care to the

Perhaps, the average person that is suffering with back pain does not realize the options that are available to end the pain. Millions suffer with back pain daily. For some, the back pain is chronic. Others find that the back pain cuts into their daily activities and limits their physical movements. They turn to menthal balms to ease the pain. The fact is that there is an alternative way to end the back pain. Often, the pain in the region is due to muscle atrophy. They simply do not exercise the right muscles. The fact is that weak core equals bad back.

The opiate epidemic is claiming more lives than car crashes, a crisis that is tearing families apart and is killing thousands of Americans. At the root of the opiate epidemic stands the pharmaceutical companies and prescribing physicians. A trend seen that too often begins with a patient being prescribed painkillers by a doctor, often for an injury, chronic pain or something as minor as oral surgery or a tooth ache. Many patients are unaware of the significant dangers of being prescribed these medications and ultimately become addicted. Physicians are not educating their patients to the risks associated with prescribing these medications; but more importantly

The most dangerous factors about prescription pain medications are how easily addictive they are because just about anyone may become reliant and their usage may ultimately being turned into a gateway drug creating a spiraling downfall for so many people. Andrea Garcia from the journal of law, medicine and ethics says, “prescription painkiller overdose has reached epidemic proportions over the last decade[…]nonmedical prescription painkiller use cost health insurers up to an estimated $72.5 billion annually in direct health care cost” (Garcia 2, 3). This demonstrates how easily prescription pain medication is to access and how uneducated users are of how expensive it is along with their long term health effects like mood swings or being unaware of their surroundings. When being prescribed pain medication, the risk of addiction is severely high. Out of the millions who abuse prescription drugs you may come across addicts who survived long term illnesses now suffering with addiction, users who steal prescription pads to feed their need or even sober individuals who fall into addiction after a traumatizing event in life. From that information anyone can become reliant on prescription drugs in a blink of an eye. Not only are painkillers dangerous by themselves, but they also are a gateway to many other disastrous drugs. Drug and Alcohol Review studied the non-medical use of painkillers and the desire to try new drugs. They concluded that while studying different cases, Jake a 29 year old heroin injector started using oxycodone since 2007, Jake explains, “I’ve never been prescribed OxyContin or anything but I feel that I need it sometimes”(2). This shows that prescription painkillers are not only easily accessed but it opens that gate to exploring with new and very harmful

For any professional working in the substance abuse treatment field, they will very likely come across situations and be presented with dilemmas relating to personal beliefs, judgments, and values. Drug or substance use and abuse have been a controversial and heated topic around the world for centuries. Drug abuse, in a way, is a facet of human culture that has been present for a great deal of human history in general. Every culture handles the issue of drug abuse differently. The history of how a society views persons with addictions is intermeshed with emotion, misperceptions, and prejudice that directly affects the care of drug abusers. This is a kind of awareness that drug users and those who provide drug treatment or rehabilitation should have. They may be susceptible to treating patients different because of their own personal views or because of the culturally normative views of that particular society. Just like teenagers may be automatically considered dangerous or irresponsible, it is fairly normative in a health care setting for a patient to be perceived negatively just because that person is a known drug user. Because of the highly charged emotional nature of the substance abuse treatment field, providers should possess the tools to explore ethical dilemmas objectively. By doing so, and by examining their own reactions to the situation, providers can proceed with the most ethical course of action. Ethical practice is