Current healthcare practice faces a lot of challenges. These challenges are both ethical and professional. If not addressed correctly, they can result in various malfunctions in the healthcare system. Therefore, there is a prolonged discussion on the nature of existing issues and problems that may occur shortly. Each issue must be evaluated from the standpoint of its significance and impact that it may have. After the evaluation is concluded, certain guidelines must be developed to prevent any possible harmful effects of the problem. The focus of this paper will be to use these necessary steps to evaluate an issue present in contemporary healthcare practice.
Issue Identification
The issue to be analyzed in this paper is chosen from the list presented in the AMA Journal of Ethics (2017). This issue is addiction and drugs consumption in a more general sense. The position taken in this paper would be that addiction must be treated and prevented. To do so, drugs use must be limited to only serve medical purposes. However, to achieve this goal, healthcare professionals must implement some solutions and guidelines to overcome drug addiction problems and other related issues.
Issue’s Impact
The impact that drug addiction has on modern-day society is hard to overestimate. Millions of people are suffering from this matter, which distorts their lives and prevents the efficient development and of society and its prosperity. As stated by Best et al. (2016), “through substance misuse, the addicts’ identities have been seriously damaged by their addiction” (p. 115). This describes the severe effect that drug addiction has on drug users’ lives and their health. Nurse practitioners experience significant struggles in helping patients to overcome their addiction. For example, I may find it hard to find approaches to a drug-addicted patient. Other than that, overcoming addiction requires the implementation of various guidelines that I need to study thoroughly.
Legal, Ethical, and Professional Evidence
In the framework of federal guidelines, drugs consumption is considered illegal in most of the USA. There are certain exceptions such as decriminalizing marijuana use in some states as well as legal alcohol and tobacco consumption.
To successfully overcome drug addiction, measures that must be taken should be most severe. Although it would be highly unethical to implement the ultimate punishment (capital punishment), there may be no other solution to the problem of drug addiction. The measures implemented must also go as far as prohibiting alcohol and tobacco consumption as well as other legalized drugs. All in all, the only possible solution seems to be the inclusion of more severe punishment for drug use, for example, maximized sentences or excessive fees.
However, Pishchulin et al. (2014) suggest another way: “necessary factors of realization program mindsets are a creation of environment are the creation of an environment for rendering accessible sociopsychological, legal consultations; empowerment on youth informing using voluntary services creation of civil education based on institutes and educational system implementation “Peer-to-Peer” (p. 567). Thus, various resolutions may be found.
Other Possible Issues
Drug addiction is related to such ethical and medical issues as child abuse, various types of crimes of the different severeness, matters of social adaptation, chronic diseases, lasting damage to health, and many others. It would be impossible to address all of these issues in just one case study. However, the important part is that by addressing and resolving drug addiction issues, health care practitioners would be able to overcome a significant number of other problems.
Conclusion
As it becomes evident, drug addiction is not only a major challenge in modern society. It is an issue interconnected with other various matters. Resolving this problem would mean improving the healthcare system on different levels. From the standpoint of ethics, it is necessary to notice that drug addicts are, after all, patients and people, too, which means that they must be provided with equal care as every other person.
References
AMA Journal of Ethics. (2017). Web.
Pishchulin, V. I., Rogacheva, L. I., Fokina, L. V., Fadeeva, O. M., Novikov, R. A., & Kolupaev, R. V. (2014). Drug addiction prevention: Experience of high education institute. Life Science Journal, 11(12), 566-569.
Best, D., Beckwith, M., Haslam, C., Haslam, S. A., Jetten, J., Mawson, E., & Lubman, D. (2016). Overcoming alcohol and other drug addiction as a process of social identity transition: the social identity model of recovery (SIMOR). Addiction Research & Theory, 24(2), 111-123.