Nurses’ Critical in Opioid Epidemic

Through the days of the plague, measles and AIDS; whenever the citizens of the globe were suffering and casualty rates were high, nurses were in the thick of things. Today’s opioid epidemic, which is killing 130 people per day according to Centers for Disease Control, will be no different. Nurses will play a critical role.

“Nurses are on the front lines screening and identifying patients with substance use disorders,” said Brenda Baker, assistant professor, Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

While some decisions will be made for nurses in board rooms throughout the epidemic, others are already being made by nurses to…