There are multiple legislators and governmental sections, directly and indirectly, involved in the policy development to regulate the usage of alternatives for decreasing opioids misuse. The U.S. Congress has established and disseminated the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act that provides the available approaches and treatment options to overcome the crisis (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, 2016). However, it does not determine the addiction to opioids and their misusage as a disease and includes no medical obligations or supporting sources. Another policy implemented by Congress is the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment. The act describes and regulates vital factors like health insurance, medical support during the opioid addiction treatment, Food and Drug Administration requirements, and nonopioid alternatives implementation (American Society of Addiction Medicine, 2020). These regulations’ fundamental statements influenced the policymaking process for the HB 743 bill.
Food and Drug Administration participates in the opioid usage regulation policies development and complies with the governmental and healthcare standards. It establishes the range of medications, funds the researches for treatment, and supports communities that disseminate the policies and educate society (O’Neill Hayes, 2018). The Drug Enforcement Administration is the legislator responsible for developing the guidelines to assist in medication prescription and provide practices that decrease the necessity for opioids in a patient’s treatment. This governmental institution can also develop frameworks that describe how a pharmacist must operate to eliminate the risk of substance abuse (O’Neill Hayes, 2018). Legislators like the Florida Department of Health and the state’s Senate consider these acts and documentations in their decision-making and new regulations’ establishment.
The Role of the APRN in Assisting with The Policy
Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNP) of Florida have the right to prescribe the controlled drugs to the patients, therefore they must be aware of substance abuse and policies that regulate it. The HB 743 bill requires health care providers to inform and offer the nonopioid alternatives to a patient, excluding the emergency, critical, and hospice service cases (The Florida Senate, 2020). The ARNPs role is crucial in assisting with the policy because they can evaluate and build an optimal pain management strategy based on patient diagnosis and conditions.
Although ethical dilemmas related might occur if the pain is remaining and sharp, the approach to offer the alternative for the client and their representatives is ethically right by the principle of authority. ARNPs can disseminate their practices related to the policy in action, share the good outcomes of nonopioid alternatives, and encourage patients to make more holistic decisions that consider all of the consequences. Florida Department of Health created printable pamphlets with the other options to opioids that have to be shared to decrease controlled substance abuse (Florida Department of Health, 2020). These documents take responsibility for the alternatives and their effectiveness from an ARNP, so the possible outcomes would not be the health care provider’s fault.
Nursing professionals who support the policy open medical and scientific research opportunities to discover more robust nonopioid alternatives. Moreover, the American Nurses Association (2018) advocates for all APRNs to “practice to the full extent of their education and practice authority, allowing individualized treatment plans for all patients and increased access to health care services, including the alternative medication-assisted treatment” (p. 8). The health care practitioners should assist in disseminating the HB 743 bill’s requirements as their active participation in providing the nonopioid alternatives for patients can vastly decrease the rate of drug poisoning deaths.
References
American Nurses Association. (2018). The opioid epidemic: The evolving role of nursing [PDF Document]. Web.
American Society of Addiction Medicine. (2020). H.R. 6: The substance use-disorder prevention that promotes opioid recovery and treatment for patients and communities. Web.
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. (2016). The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. Web.
Florida Department of Health. (2020). Nonopioid pain management. Web.
O’Neill Hayes, T. (2018). The legislative response to the nation’s opioid crisis. American Action Forum. Web.
The Florida Senate. (2020). HB 743: Nonopioid alternatives. Web.