15 Aug Managing Pregnancy and Addiction
An area of interest I wish to pursue for ethical research is the “Ethical Issues in Treating Alcoholism and Addiction” how this relates directly to the health profession is alcoholism and addiction, this topic has recently been identified as a disease in the medical community where binge drinking and overdoses are plaguing our country, rehabilitation medicine has exploded and addicted patients are frustrating our health care system.1 The National Institute of Health defines addiction as a complex but treatable disease that affects brain function and behavior. Drugs of abuse alter the brains structure and function, resulting in changes that persist long after drug use has ceased. This may explain why drug abusers are at risk for relapse even after long periods of abstinence and despite the potentially devastating consequences.2 This topic is interesting to me because the current stage of many communities are plagued with addiction and this seeps into the healthcare system. Whether its an unresponsive overdose of an unknown substance arriving to the Emergency Room or an unknown addict laboring mother giving birth and the infant is in distress these patients are ones that are encountered each day by health professionals and we must be educated on how to treat this patients with the proper care, support and medication management. I would like to focus on how the provider manages patients with addiction and pregnancy, this is a sensitive topic in healthcare due to the fact it involves a vulnerable population and pregnancy is not something that addiction is commonly related to. According to a national survey conducted in the United States in 2012, 5.9% of pregnant women use illicit drugs, 8.5% drink alcohol and 15.9% smoke cigarettes, resulting in over 380,000 offspring exposed to illicit substances, over 550,000 exposed to alcohol and over one million exposed to tobacco in utero.3 With these statistics rapidly increasing, the chances of providers encountering these patients increases as well and they must be prepared on how to address the topic and manage the disease.
References
1.Pence, Gregory E. Medical Ethics: Accounts of Ground-Breaking Cases. McGraw-Hill Higher Education (US), 2020. [VitalSource Bookshelf].
2.NIDA. Evidence-Based Approaches to Drug Addiction Treatment. National Institute on Drug Abuse website. https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/evidence-based-approaches-to-drug-addiction-treatment. June 3, 2020 Accessed July 29, 2021.
3.Forray A. Substance use during pregnancy. F1000Res. 2016;5:F1000 Faculty Rev-887. Published 2016 May 13. doi:10.12688/f1000research.7645.1
