Community Health and Population-Focused Nursing Field Experience
Task 1 - Social Media Campaign
B. Community Health Nursing Diagnosis Statement
The United States is currently experiencing an opioid abuse epidemic and our
community is no exception. Spartanburg county, along with the surrounding counties,
has had a significant increase in opioid overdoses and death over the past few years.
This is a major concern for our community. Not only is our adult community members at
risk but our youth are at risk as well. Children are being introduced to opioids at an
earlier age now and with easier access. With this increased availability of prescription
and non-prescription opioids in the community, the mortality rate will continue to rise if
we do not take action in this matter. This is evident by the current number of overdose
cases seen on our streets and in our emergency rooms. Over the past few years, new
legislation and programs have been implemented in Spartanburg County to help combat
this issue, however, our emergency rooms and police force continue to see rapidly
increasing trends towards overdose fatalities. We need to collaborate within the
community to provide education and naloxone rescue kits to this high risk population, as
well as their family and friends.
1. Our community at large is at a higher risk than most other counties in
the state, for substance abuse and overdose. This is due to the significant
rise in opioid use that came via three distinct increases in availability.
Starting in the 1990s there was a steady increase in opioid prescriptions
for pain management, another upward trend in 2010 when there was a
significant increase in availability and usage of heroin and most recently in
2017 when illicitly manufactured fentanyl made its way to the streets.
(Rudd et al, 2016) According to the 2017 South Carolina Overdose
Mortality Data, Spartanburg County has the fifth highest number of
overdose deaths out of the 46 counties in South Carolina. Spartanburg
county also has the fourth highest number of deaths related to heroin and
the sixth highest number of deaths related to fentanyl. The state of South
Carolina overall, has a higher overdose death rate than the national
average. (NIDA, March 2019)
a. Current efforts for prevention include programs within our middle
and high schools that warn of the dangers and addiction potential of
drug use and abuse. To service current addicts, our community has
a variety of support groups and drug treatment programs, including
non-medicated and medicated assisted treatment. Some of the
support groups and non-medicated assisted programs are free of
charge. Other programs are insurance eligible, accept Medicaid or
offer payment assistance or payment plan options.
b. The underlying cause is the rise in opioid prescribed medications,
illegal drug presence, ease of obtaining, and high nature of
addiction. The most pressing issue is the action of opioids...
