Survey on Addictions: Toward Curricular Change for Family Nurse Practitioners

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe the results of a survey of advanced practice nurses (APNs) to determine the activities they perform related to caring for patients with addictions and or co-occurring mental health disorders, the amount of addictions education in their graduate programs, and their perceptions of the value of addictions education for their role. Data were obtained from 233 APNs in New York State using a tool adapted from a previous job analysis survey. APNs reported the greatest amount of experience in history taking for various types of addictions and co-occurring mental health disorders and least amount of experience in performing objective exams, using standardized screening tools, ordering related diagnostic tests, prescribing pharmacological treatments, and making referrals for addiction treatment. Respondents reported a mean of less than three hours addictions education in their graduate programs in contrast to their high perceived importance of this clinical area.

A Tailored Curriculum of Alcohol Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for Nurses in Inpatient Settings

“…However, like most healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses typically receive little training in how to address alcohol use (Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse, 2005). Unhealthy alcohol use traditionally receives cursory attention in undergraduate and graduate nursing curricula (Campbell-Heider et al, 2009;Keller & Dermatis, 1999;Mollica, Hyman, & Mann, 2011), leaving most nurses with inadequate clinical knowledge, skills, and motivation for effectively addressing this issue (Broyles et al, 2012a;Happell & Taylor, 1999;Naegle, 2002). Furthermore, little education and skills training are offered to nurses regarding how to screen for unhealthy alcohol use, how to engage patients and discuss reducing alcohol consumption to levels recommended by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA, 2005), and how and when to refer a patient for more comprehensive assessment and/or treatment (Broyles et al, 2012a;Mollica et al, 2011).…”

Indoor Tanning and Adolescents

“…A concern may be the lack of such content in nursing curricula. For example, a study of advanced practice nurses found that while they engaged in obtaining historical data related to addictions, they were less apt to utilize standardized screening tools, and reported low utilization of evidence-based educational and treatment strategies (Campbell-Heider et al, 2009). Likewise, nurses should be educated about detecting symptoms of depression such as irritability, anhedonia, changes in sleeping patterns, or feelings of worthlessness (Son & Kirchner, 2000).…”

Nursing Education in the Midst of the Opioid Crisis

“…Similar to the absence of substance use education seen in nursing undergraduate programs, graduate nursing programs are also deficient in substance use education (Covington et al, 2018;Moore et al, 2017;Savage et al, 2018). A survey of 233 advanced practice nurses across specialties found that respondents reported receiving 1.67 (standard deviation [SD] ¼ 1.13) hours of didactic content related to addiction in their graduate programs, with the modal response that no addiction-related content had been included in the curriculum (Campbell-Heider et al, 2009). In this respect, nursing students fare worse than the preparation of our medical colleagues.…”