Introduction
Substance abuse is defined as the use of harmful elements such as illegal drugs, legal substances (alcohol or tobacco), and the misuse of prescribed medication commonly anesthetic drugs.
Main body
This problem is clamant in our society, but public health nurses can make a difference by spreading awareness, education, and constantly scanning the situation. The misuse of the prescribed opioids is more difficult to prevent as it is motivated by severe health complications of patients. As Han, Compton, Blanco, and Jones (2018) state, “among US adult prescription opioid misusers, 63.4% reported that the main motivation for their most recent misuse was to relieve physical pain”.
Conclusion
The presence of severe life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, often provokes depression and anxiety, which usually serve as triggers for misuse of prescribed drugs. That is why health care workers should assess the behavioral condition of patients to eliminate the possibility of prescribed opioid misuse.
References
Han, B., Compton, W. M., Blanco, C., & Jones, C. M. (2018). Correlates of prescription opioid use, misuse, use disorders, and motivations for misuse among US adults. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 79(5). doi: 10.4088/jcp.17m11973