The importance of nurse monitoring for potential opioid abuse in their patients

Deaths related to opioids have quadrupled since 1999, making it a top priority in health care. This article will provide an overview of the opioid crisis, focusing on the role that nurses play in addressing this crisis, with emphasis on assessment, early recognition, and prevention of opioid misuse. Systematic review of Medline, PubMed, and Google Scholar for articles relating to nurses’ role in pain management, education, and safe opioid use. Research suggests the incidence of ongoing, persistent pain is at an all-time high (IOM Report, 2011, Relieving pain in America: A blueprint for transforming prevention, care, education, and research, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC), coincidently the rate of opioid prescribing over the past 15 years has also reached an all-time high (Prescription Opioid Overdose Data, 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/overdose.html/). An “opioid crisis” was declared, calling for safer opioid prescribing (CDC Guideline for Prescribing, 2016, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/rr6501e1.htm/). Further research shows that nurses are educated and accomplished health care professionals (ASPMN, 2017, The core curriculum for pain management nursing, Elsevier, New York, NY; DEA Requirements, 2017, https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/docs/dwp_buprenorphine.htm/; Ray & Behr, Clinical Nurse Specialist, 31, 2017, 115; St. Marie, Pain Management Nursing, 17, 2016, 311), at the forefront of monitoring for addiction and opioid misuse. Nurses contribute greatly to enhanced pain assessment and education to patients, families, and their peers. With the current opioid crisis, nurses have taken on the added responsibility of monitoring for potential opioid abuse, safety, and signs of addiction in their patients.