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Addiction and Awareness

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Addiction and Awareness
Chris Darnell
NUR/440
June 6, 2011
Nita Magee-Cornelius

Addiction and Awareness
Addiction is a problem that touches many families in today’s society. In Madison County Alabama the use of alcohol and drugs is a growing problem in all age groups, especially in the younger generation. Working in a large emergency department nurses and doctors are seeing more drug abuse victims and dealing with patients who are addicted is a huge challenge for most health care professionals.
In the emergency department at Huntsville Hospital where 250 to 400 patients are seen daily, many of the patients seen are addicted to some type of mind altering substance. “According to the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and health, more than eight million people in the U.S. are current users of prescription drugs for non-medical purposes” (Alabama Department of Public Health, n.d.). This is a staggering number considering this does not include illicit street drugs. Drug use is growing for several reasons including the state of the economy, different mental disorders, and abusive or unhappy personal lives. Addicts know that an easy place to obtain their fix is to come in the emergency department and complain of some type of pain because the longer the addict is using, often higher doses of the drug may be required. “Individuals who become addicted to psychoactive substances typically experience relatively less pleasure in response to drug use over time, but their craving for and loss of control over drugs increase” (Durrant, Adamson, Todd, & Sellman, 2009, p. 1050).
As a beginning nurse in the emergency department it was difficult to deal with patients who were addicted to mind altering drugs and alcohol. Feeling that these individuals were the scum of the earth was very much the norm. In the past nurses treated patients with less respect when the patients

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