Heroin Addiction in Australia: SBIRT and Future Scope Report

This report addresses the global issue of heroin addiction, highlighting its impact on individuals, families, and communities. It details the types of opioid drugs, with a focus on heroin, and explores the rising concerns of heroin intake, particularly among youths. The report provides statistics on heroin-related deaths in Australia and discusses the associated social and health effects. It introduces SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) as a method to combat addiction, explaining its components and procedures, including screening, brief intervention, and referral. The report includes examples of SBIRT practices and emphasizes the role of nursing in this process, while also discussing the future scope of SBIRT in mitigating drug addiction. The report concludes by emphasizing the effectiveness of SBIRT in treating drug addiction and provides references to support its findings.

INTRODUCTION:
 Addiction of drugs has been a long-term
concern around the world.
 Consumption of drugs results in deaths of
a significant number of people around the
world
 According to the World Drug Report 2017,
about 29.5 million people suffer due to
addiction of drugs around the world
("World Drug Report 2017: 29.5 million
people globally suffer from drug use
disorders, opioids the most harmful",

TYPES OF OPIOID DRUGS:
 Heroin ("Opioids", 2018)
 Oxycodone
 Morphine
 Vicodin
 Codeline

HEROIN:
 Heroine is regarded as an illegal type of
Opioid drugs (Rudd et al., 2016)
 It is made from morphine
 People using heroin mostly inject, smoke
or sniff it
 Heroin impacts on relieving the pain and
provide sense of pleasures to the users
 This also controls heart rate and
breathing

RISING CONCERN
 The main concerns is regarding the
increase of drug intakes among the
youths
 In the last few years, intake of heroin has
become almost equal for men and
women
 The effect of this addiction is even
causing concerns for their families
 Even the children are becoming affected
as well

EFFECTS OF HEROIN..
 Nausea
 Vomiting
 Severe itching
 Insomnia
 Collapsed veins
 Damaged tissues
 Liver diseases
 Effects in kidney
 Mental disorders
 Infection in heart lining ("Heroin", 2018)

ISSUES OF HEROIN INTAKE IN AUSTRALIA:
 Issues of consumption of heroine has been a major
concern in Australia
 In the year 2016, number of deaths due to intake of
Heroin in Australia have been 361
 This involves about 20% of deaths due to intake of
harmful drugs ("3303.0 - Causes of Death, Australia,
2016", 2018)
 According to the report, men whose age range between
35 to 39 have mostly suffered from deaths due to intake
of drugs in Australia
 In the case of women, the age range is between 35 to 44
 Even there has been a growing number in the
percentage of youths involving themselves in intake of
heroine

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
 Drug abuse has become a growing concern in
Australia and all around the world
 According to Possi (2018), drug abuse changes the
social behaviour of the addicted people
 Drug abuse also increases the increase of criminal
behaviour in the perception of the addicted people
(Ajonijebu et al., 2017)
 Intake of heroine is causing deaths of millions of
youths around the world
 This even affects the career and social growth of
these youths
 In Australia and other parts of the world, intake of
drugs also increases domestic violence

SBIRT:
 SBIRT is known as Screening, Brief
Intervention, and Referral to Treatment
("SBIRT / SAMHSA-HRSA", 2018)
 This is known as the practice which is
conducted to cure the drug addicts
 The steps of SBIRT involve screening,
brief intervention and referral for
treatment

BRIEF ABOUT THE THREE COMPONENTS:
 In the step of screening, the healthcare
professional conducts assessment on the patients
by using some screening tools.
 Brief intervention involves conversation between
the healthcare professional and the patient and
behaviour is shown to the patient on using these
risky substances.
 Further, feedbacks are taken from the patients
along with giving them the advice.
 In the last step that is referral, the healthcare
professional refer the patient for the treatment
procedures ("SBIRT | SAMHSA - Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration", 2018)

SCREENING, BRIEF INTERVENTION AND REFERRING:
 Screening is the most important of the three
components
 This is because it helps in analyzing the
situation of the patient
 Brief intervention is important as it helps in
creating conversation with the patient
 Further, by conversation a process of trust is
created in the mind of the patient
 This also helps in understand the mental
condition of the patient
 Lastly, referring is done by assessing the
requirement of treatment of the patient

EXAMPLES OF PROCEDURES APPLIED BY SBIRT:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGhj06-sM2Y
 This video shows the process of screening
conducted by a medical professional with a heroin
addicted ("SBIRT for drug use", 2018)
 This shows the methods applied by the
professional while asking various questions to the
patient
 In this video, the patient discusses about the
problems he is facing due to addiction to heroin
 Further, the professional ask the patients if he is
ready to get treated
 At last, the patient acknowledges the efforts of the
professional on understanding his problem

STYLISTIC ELEMENTS:
 In the video, the healthcare professional
analyzed the issues of the patient
 Further, he collected information about
the impacts of heroin intake on the health
and mind of the patient
 He then asked the patient to choose a
number which will indicate his intention
on getting cured
 He then assured the patient of getting all
the support on getting cured

NURSING PRACTICE:
 In the scenario of SBIRT, the nursing
practice involves raising the subject of
concern to the patient ("Expanding SBIRT
to Hospitals", 2018)
 Conducting intervention
 Collecting feedbacks
 Referring to the doctor

FUTURE SCOPE
 SBIRT practice can be spread around the
world
 This will help in eliminating the growth of
drug addiction in the world
 The steps of SBIRT can help in attracting
a significant number of drug addicts
 Further, by conducting various awareness
program the issues of drug addiction can
be mitigated

CONCLUSIONS
 Issues of drug intake is a major concern
around the world
 Number of deaths of people due to drug
addiction is on the rise
 The activities of SBIRT is thus extremely
beneficial
 Practices of SBIRT is helping to cure a
significant amount of drug adductor

REFERENCES..
 3303.0 - Causes of Death, Australia, 2016. (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/3303.0~2016~Main%20Features~Drug
%20Induced%20Deaths%20in%20Australia~6
 Ajonijebu, D. C., Abboussi, O., Russell, V. A., Mabandla, M. V., & Daniels, W. M. (2017). Epigenetics: a link
between addiction and social environment. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 74(15), 2735-2747.
 Expanding SBIRT to Hospitals. (2018). Retrieved from https://hospitalsbirt.webs.com/nursingsbirt.htm
 Heroin. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/heroin
 Opioids. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids
 Possi, M. K. (2018). Effects of drug abuse on cognitive and social behaviours: A potential problem among
youth in Tanzania. Utafiti Journal, 3(1).
 Rudd, R. A., Aleshire, N., Zibbell, J. E., & Gladden, R. M. (2016). Increases in drug and opioid overdose
deaths—United States, 2000–2014. American Journal of Transplantation, 16(4), 1323-1327.
 SBIRT / SAMHSA-HRSA. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.integration.samhsa.gov/clinical-practice/sbirt
 SBIRT | SAMHSA - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.samhsa.gov/sbirt
 SBIRT for drug use. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGhj06-sM2Y
 World Drug Report 2017: 29.5 million people globally suffer from drug use disorders, opioids the most
harmful. (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2017/June/world-drug-report-2017_-29-5-million-people-globall
y-suffer-from-drug-use-disorders--opioids-the-most-harmful.html
