Keywords

Opiate Addiction, Treatment, Primary Care, Opiate Substitution Therapy, Nurse Practitioners

Abstract

Opioid abuse is a worldwide problem and there are not enough care providers or treatment programs available to treat the opioid abuse epidemic. Many primary-care nurse practitioners care for patients who are dependant and/or abuse opioids. Under current legislation, nurse practitioners are not allowed to prescribe the schedule III medications necessary to treat them, even though they have been made available to primary-care physicians with some additional training. This paper discusses the effectiveness of opioid substitution therapy in a primary care setting, the patient population best suited for this therapy, patient satisfaction with primary care service, and the barriers preventing primary care providers from providing treatment to opioid patients. It discusses how nurse practitioners can help overcome some of these barriers and improve access to this underserved population.

Description

The College of Nursing showcases some of our best evidence based scholarly papers from graduate students in the Family Nurse Practitioner Program. The papers address relevant clinical problems for advance practice nurses and are based on the best evidence available. Using a systematic approach students critically analyze and synthesize the research studies to determine the strength of the evidence regarding the clinical problem. Based on the findings, recommendations are made for clinical practice. The papers are published in professional journals and presented at professional meetings.