Substance Use Disparity In Nursing

Disparity in Pain Management among Patients with Substance Use Disorder

Fatimat Odeyemi

University of Maryland School of Nursing Disparity in Pain Management among Patients with Substance Use Disorder

Description of the Problem

If pain according to Ignatavicius and Workman (2010) is what the patient says it is and it exist when and where the patient says it does, why does research studies show disparity in treatment with patients suspected of substance abuse or those diagnosed with substance abuse disorder?

Studies by Morley, Briggs and Chumbley (2015), Morgan (2014) and Paschkis and Potter (2015) all supported the hypothesis that nurses provide inadequate pain relief to their patients because of the perception that constant request

These principles also help the nurse decide the best treatment for the patient. The first principle autonomy according to Finkelman and Kenner (2016) is the right a patient has to make informed decision about his/her care and treatment. This means that only the patient has the right to make decisions about their healthcare having received information on the benefits and risks from the Physician. In order words, pain treatment is part of the informed decisions the patient has a right to make. For a nurse to diligently perform his/her duty, pain relief should be provided to the patient how and when prescribed by the Physician irrespective of the nurse’s bias or prejudice (Finkelman and Kenner, 2016). Another very important ethical principle is beneficence. Beneficence as described in the article, ‘Ethics and Pain Management in Hospitalized Patients’ by Bernhofer (2012), is the principle of doing good. What this principle means is that care must be provided in an appropriate and timely manner. Nurses must provide pain relief on time and at the right dose for effective pain relief. Based on research pain is best treated before it becomes severe. To avoid this kind of complication, nurses must administer pain medication routinely as prescribed by the

Cheatle, Comer, Wunsch, Skoufalos, and Reddy (2014) in their article encourage healthcare providers to make use of psychological screening because there is a correlation between opioid abuse and depression. Another recommendation is that sleep assessment helps in pain management because Cheatle et al stated that opioids based on studied are known to affect sleep in people with chronic pain and SUDs. Lastly, the Authors further suggest that the effect of the opiates be measured by making use of the patient self-reporting