Population Health Policy Advocacy Paper
Current State of Quality of Care for Veterans Affected by Opioid Addiction
The current high and rising rates of veterans’ opioid addiction rates are highly alarming. Veterans are prone to addiction due to the higher prevalence of severe chronic pain, distressing conditions, and poor living conditions after active duty, making them vulnerable to opioid addiction. Various studies have shown that the rates of opioid addiction are relatively higher in Veterans, opioid overdose mortalities are the leading causes of drug overdose deaths, and over 60% of veterans have chronic pain history, hence exposure to opioid analgesics (CDC, 2022)Population Health Policy Advocacy Paper. Veterans suffer opioid addiction through poor pain management practices or drug abuse. The policy discussed herein will manage the opioid crisis from its immediate causes.
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The Necessity of Health Policy Development for Opioid Addiction
Opioid addiction occurs after prolonged opioid use meant for chronic pain management. Addiction often goes unnoticed because these individuals are not active drug abusers and may be unaware of the problem. Hence, the care providers’ mandate is to educate patients, practice safe prescriptions (there are clear guidelines), and follow them up to detect addiction or risks (Dembek et al., 2019)Population Health Policy Advocacy Paper. However, there are no robust healthcare providers’ training programs to enhance their safe analgesic prescription practices. In addition, there is a need for a program that records all individuals under opioid analgesics to ensure they have proper follow-up and monitoring. Healthcare providers’ main goal is to promote health and improve the quality of life of their patients. Veterans’ opioid crisis from poor prescription practices can be wholly managed with a strong policy.
Policy in Improving the Desired Health Outcomes
Preventive health has been identified as an effective way of saving on costs and improving individuals’ health outcomes. Educating healthcare providers on safe practices will increase their knowledge and skills and enhance the quality of health education. The database for collecting data on individuals on opioid analgesics will be vital in follow-up and tracking. Availing resources will increase healthcare services access for these patients, preventing mortalities and improving their life quality. The costs of the policy provisions could be high, but they are cheaper in the wrong run. According to Dembek et al. (2019)Population Health Policy Advocacy Paper, over $500 million are used in managing opioid addiction and overdoses.
Interprofessional Aspects Vital to the Policy
The vital aspects requiring interprofessional efforts are amendment and improvement. These Professionals delegate, evaluate data and generate viable ideas to improve the policy and ensure it remains relevant to the population’s problems. Another aspect is change management. Leveraging interprofessional collaboration will help manage resistance to change, which can affect the implementation of the proposed policy (Moirano et al., 2020)Population Health Policy Advocacy Paper.
Policy Advocacy
The policy can be implemented in other settings such as barracks and such environments to ensure individuals have direct access to healthcare services. Individuals receiving opioid analgesics can be recorded and followed up conveniently from these camps/bases. Availing of the services in the centers will enhance their utilization. Other relevant areas include community resources. Healthcare providers in various departments can recognize or detect problems before they complicate and remedy them to produce better outcomes, save lives, and improve the lives of veterans Population Health Policy Advocacy Paper.
References
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (2022). Opioids. Understanding the Opioid Overdose Epidemic. https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/epidemic.html
Dembek, Z. F., Chekol, T., & Wu, A. (2020). The opioid epidemic: challenge to military medicine and national security. Military medicine, 185(5-6), e662-e667. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usz487
Moirano, R., Sánchez, M. A., & Štěpánek, L. (2020). Creative interdisciplinary collaboration: A systematic literature review. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 35, 100626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2019.100626 Population Health Policy Advocacy Paper
Appendix
Choice Journal: Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services
Letters to the Editor Submission Guidelines:
Each journal requires a letter before or after publishing an article in the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services. The journal is a peer-reviewed monthly. The letters can also be written to address other issues related to psychiatric-mental health, such as evidence-based practices, best practices, and new guidelines in psychiatric-mental health. Letters regarding previously published articles should be submitted within a year of the article’s publication to be considered for publication or consideration of the amendment of the information therein. Letters are good for enhancing information dissemination because gaining the editor’s buy-in could potentially improve the spread of information. The journal provides the following guidelines on how, when, to whom, and the structure of these letters to the editor.
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The letter should be approximately 500 words with a maximum of three references which are not mandatory use. They also require the letters to be a clear message for the reader to avoid ambiguity. The letters can be edited to ensure they meet the criteria before sending them to the editor. The letter is addressed to the editorial office and sent to the official email provided by the journal. The journal also requires the author to state the purpose and aim and present any competing or conflicting interests to meet the publication criteria. Population Health Policy Advocacy Paper
