The problem of substance abuse has been observed in the rural setting among aging adults for a while, mostly due to the lack of a sustainable strategy for prescribing opioid medications and the absence of financial resources among rural residents to purchase advanced medicine that does not allow for rapid dependency development (Hash, Jurkowski, & Krout, 2015). Therefore, strategies for managing intoxication and the effects thereof, such as damage to the liver and heart, need to be developed. The current criteria set by the DSMV for the substance abuse disorder allow noticing the symptoms of the problem comparatively early, with high chances for a successful intervention. Therefore, a patient education program should be launched to assist aging adults in the rural setting to receive free consultations and gain access to services that will allow them to cope with their disorder.
Given the extent of threats that substance abuse in elderly patients in rural areas entails, it is also reasonable to introduce the services that will allow for a fast response to a case of a substance overdose. Poorly developed infrastructure and the large amount of time taken for an ambulance to arrive in order to assist an elderly patient that has an opioid overdose may lead to fatal outcomes (Click, Basden, Bohannon, Anderson, & Tudiver, 2018). Therefore, along with consultations for aging adults that experience addiction to opioids and similar drugs, services for quick response to an overdose and any other reactions to opioid drugs have to be established to ensure safety and well-being of the target demographic (Garcia et al., 2017). The proposed measures will have to be supported by patient education and better regulation of opioid drug prescription to reduce the threat of fatal outcomes in aging adults living in rural areas.
References
Click, I. A., Basden, J. A., Bohannon, J. M., Anderson, H., & Tudiver, F. (2018). Opioid prescribing in rural family practices: a qualitative study. Substance Use & Misuse, 53(4), 533-540. Web.
Garcia, M. C., Faul, M., Massetti, G., Thomas, C. C., Hong, Y., Bauer, U. E., & Iademarco, M. F. (2017). Reducing potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes of death in the rural United States. MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 66(2), 1-7. Web.
Hash, K. M., Jurkowski, E. T., & Krout, J. A. (2015). Aging in rural places. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company, LLC.