(solved) Nursing Assignment PDF

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Nursing assignment
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Introduction
Illicit and addictive use drugs is a growing concern globally, attributed to a number of
side effects produced from the overuse of such substances on the health and well-being of a
person. The uncontrolled use of narcotic substances reduces the amount of control one has over
their bodily systems. Additionally, the use of such drugs can also have a much pronounced effect
on the thinking and cognitive abilities of a person. The current assignment focuses on the
concept of the illicit and randomized use of prescription opioids and the serious health impacts
produced by the same on the long-term health of a person.
The opioids can be classified as a group of narcotic drugs which are used as pain relievers
are recommended by the general medical practitioners for the management of aggravated pain
symptoms. There has been a sharp increase in the number people using prescription opioids for
the management of pain in Australia. The present concern is the growing number of death cases
in Australia due to over usage of prescription opioids. Thus, with the help of this study, an
endeavour has been made to analyse the plausible causes for the overuse of such narcotic drugs
and the drastic side effects.
Thesis statement: Effects of increased use of opioids within the Australian population
Causes of increased use of prescription opioids
The illicit use of drugs has been an ever growing concern and need proper care and
redressal. The drugs could be further divided into scheduled and non-scheduled drugs, which
possess major risk factors. However, as mentioned by Blanch et al.(2014), the use of the opioids
have gained prominence in the current decade and have resulted in serious health concerns and
side effects. The opioids such as morphine and oxycodone are some of the top drugs of misuse in

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Australia. As reported by the Australian drug counselling helpline they receive twice more calls
for prescription opioids than for other non-scheduled drugs. As suggested by the Sydney
medically supervised injecting centre higher numbers of visits are obtained for the injection of
crushed opioid tablets compared to some of the non-scheduled drugs. As commented by Schaffer
et al. (2016), most people using prescription opioids have been advised so for various pain
management symptoms and issues. The doses are initiated in low amounts and escalated
gradually resulting in physical discomfort for the patient. As argued by Miller et al.(2017), the
epidemic of the problem has to be blamed equally upon the health channels prescribing and
promoting the use of such medications. Over the last ten years, the sale of the prescription drugs
has doubled in Australia, particularly one of the prescription drugs oxycodone have shown a
significant increase.
There are huge numbers of disputes regarding the use of the opioids that is whether or not
the opioids should be used. As argued by Schaffer et al. (2016), limiting the use of opioids is
challenging owing to the ability of the medications to manage chronic and cancer-related pain.
The growing demand for the drug appears from three overlapping groups such as the patients
with chronic pain, the ones undergoing treatment for cancer and the ones who extract the
medicines in an illegal manner. Reports and evidence have pointed that a quarter of the
population of Australia is ageing at a drastic rate. This makes pain management important
criteria for the medical channel. As argued by Compton et al. (2016), the use of opioids should
not be thought of as the only strategy for the control and management of pain.