Overdose: Pain Pills, Heroin, Fentanyl and Beyond- 4HR

Course overview

Audience: This course will benefit all nurses at the bedside and in the community who deal with the general population, particularly the population at risk for opioid misuse, addiction, and overdose. Course overview: Opioid addiction and overdose is a widespread epidemic throughout the United States. Nurses and healthcare professionals have a duty to both understand the problem, as well as provide compassionate care to affected individuals and families. The nurse has a unique role to provide medical and supportive care, as well as social and emotional support. Throughout this course, the nurse will learn common terminology related to opioid use and addiction, as well as common pharmaceutical and street formulations. This course will review the basic pharmacology of opioids and position the nurse to be able to swiftly identify signs and symptoms of acute withdrawal, as well as acute overdose. The nurse should be able to educate patients who are given opioids in both the inpatient and outpatient settings regarding their risks for side effects, dependence, and addiction. Furthermore, this course will present the theory of prevention model and the unique points of potential intervention to help prevent, identify, and treat opioid addiction. This course will provide a comprehensive overview of opioid pharmacology, risk factors for addiction, individual and public health consequences of addiction, as well as detailed prevention and treatment modalities for opioid addiction. Learning objectives: Upon completion of this course, the learner should be able to: 1. Describe the basic pharmacological process of opioids and understand the difference between opioid agonists, partial-agonists, and antagonists. 2. Explain the difference between opioid tolerance, dependence, and addiction. 3. Describe the symptoms of opioid withdrawal syndrome. 4. Identify early childhood experiences that are risk factors for development of chronic diseases. 5. Define neuroadaptation and explain long-term effects of opioids on the brain. 6. Recognize the role of the Registered Nurse in promoting the theory of prevention as it applies to opioid addiction. 7. Define two risk factors and two protective factors for substance abuse. 8. Learn to advocate for the patient population at-risk for opioid abuse and overdose by having a clear understanding of the neurobiology of addiction and educating others in the nursing community.