Nurse Advocacy Paper

Nurse practitioners are advanced practice registered nurses who have received special courses and training. They usually work closely with doctors and can perform many high-level primary care tasks. They often specialize in specific types of practice such as pediatrics, psychiatry, or obstetrics. Some establish private practices; however, most work in doctors' offices, hospitals, or neighborhood health centers. Their duties often include taking detailed medical histories and performing complete physical exams, providing diagnoses and recommending treatment plans, treating common medical conditions, illnesses, and injuries, prescribing limited medications, and counseling patients and families. They also care

Nursing Delegation: A Professional Challenge George S. Diaz Chamberlain College of Nursing NR-103: Transition to the Nursing Profession September 20th 2017 Nursing Delegation: A Professional Challenge The purpose of this paper is to prove delegating effectively will provide positive patient outcome, but if done ineffectively can lead to errors resulting in patient harm or death. Nursing delegation brings upon a shared responsibility to the tasks at hand to those who can do the appropriate work.

The source describes the opioid overdose epidemic across the U.S. as a significant issue possibly deriving from economic stress, social isolation, and over-prescribing pain relievers. Action must be taken to help and prevent dependency on opioids in order to stop this rapid rate of overdose throughout America. Proper education is vital for younger and elder generations to know how to prevent opioid dependency.

In Florida alone, thousands of Americans die every year due to the struggles of opioid addiction. According to Becker’s Hospital Review 1,399 (Rappleye) Floridians die each year from prescription or heroin overdose. Many families are affected by opioid

The Salary of an RN is about $36.94 per hour, but the work schedule of a nurse is crazy. Nurses never really get a break especially floor nurses. I have talked to quite a few nurses and they have said that since you don’t truly get a break you tend to gain weight do to constantly eating/snacking. The education needed to be a Registered Nurse would be a Bachelor Degree which is a four year process. To be a Registered Nurse or RN you will need no training. On the job you will administer basic health care which is a temporary health coverage program for low-income, uninsured United States citizens or permanent legal residents of Contra Costa County. As an RN you will being giving patients intravenous medications. An intravenous

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

Analysis: According to the Center for Disease Control, in Florida, there was over 3,200 deaths from opioid overdoses, and opioids account for the most overdose deaths in the United States (“Opioid Overdose,” 2016).

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.

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

The use of opioids and other drugs continues to gradually increase in the United State. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of overdose deaths involving opioids has quadrupled since 1999” (CDC website). Individuals are abusing prescription opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone. Prescriptions opioids that are supposed to be used as pain relievers, cough suppressants and for withdrawal symptoms are being use by individuals in order to feel relaxed or for the overwhelming effect of euphoria. These types of drugs are to be taken orally, but people are snorting, smoking, and injecting them in order to get a better high. I have personal encounters with opioid drugs and opioid abuser on a regular

The overdose count has been increasing over the years at an alarming rate. Statistics show that overdose is now more fatal than it was anticipated. In a news conference during September, Secretary Tom Price, brings up the topic of opioid abuse and he mentions that not only were there more than 50,000 deaths due to opioids, but it also made it by far the highest numbered gathered between 2002 and 2013(Price). It is a major deal that many people have lost their lives, and many more will continue losing their lives if the government doesn’t find a way to control this outbreak. Now there is starting to be a noticeable difference in overdoses since as stated in the LA Times “Death from opioid

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 health care industry is experiencing a surge in the number of baby-boomers needing health care and increased demands on the physicians providing the care. This trend has made the role of Advanced practice providers more important (cite). It is imperative to understand the differences and similarities in the advanced practice provider roles as it pertains to healthcare. This paper will identify specialty nursing roles including advanced practice registered nurses (APRN). It will further compare and contrast the advanced practice nurse (APN) and physician assistant (PA) roles in practice.

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.

Heather, I agree that education for the family and advocacy for the patient is a key to our nursing practice of the aging population. As the nurse, we need to have the skills and knowledge about key concepts of gerontology and gerontological nursing to teach patients and their families effectively (Tabloski, 2014). Applying the nursing process by using nursing care plans allows the nurse to assess, diagnose, identify expected outcomes, implement interventions, and evaluate outcomes. This framework helps us to follow through with education and advocacy for our patients. Supporting patients and their families will only strengthen the relationship with the nurse establishing trust, which is important for positive