Article Analysis

Article Analysis

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Article Analysis

The article “I’m Worried about People in Pain” by Carol Curtiss discussed the recent efforts to control drug abuse and their implications on people depending on opioids (Curtiss, 2016). The author’s background is characterized by a heavy focus on clinical nursing. Curtiss has also achieved awards for her studies in oncology, cancer survivorship, end-of-life care, and pain. Her education qualifications include a nursing diploma, a master of science in nursing and a bachelor of science all from different institutions. Curtiss is also a member of several medical associations including the Editorial Board for Pain Management Nursing, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Cancer Survivors’ Work Group. Carol Curtiss discussed the way in which the new regulations would affect patients who relied on the drugs to relieve pain. The reduced access to pain medication implied that patients, even those with prescriptions, could not access refills. From the patient side, Curtiss noted that they felt stigmatized and backed this claim using the increased number of disgruntled patients who could not access pain medicine easily (Curtiss, 2016). The author argued that while controlling drug abuse was an important task, care should be taken to come up with a long lasting, and collaborative solution. The article was useful in the study of nursing as it discussed the new regulations implemented in the healthcare industry. These regulations will affect the dispensation of drugs to pain patients by nurses (Curtiss, 2016). One of the major limitations of the article is the provision of an inadequate solution for the recommendations part. Although the issue was discussed at length, the author failed to provide a satisfactory answer to the drug dispensation problem. The paper targeted the healthcare administrators who were responsible for deliberating and passing policies on different areas of the industry. Carol Curtiss concluded that all health providers should consider pain management education as a significant area (Curtiss, 2016). Therefore, pain clinicians and pain patients should have space at the table during policy deliberations. This conclusion is similar to other studies in which the decision makers are always urged to include other stakeholders in their deliberations. Personally, I was surprised that they could restrict the access to pain medicine without consulting the clinicians. I know that a significant population suffered greatly during the implementation of the policy.

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Curtiss, C. P. (2016). I’m Worried about People in Pain. American journal of nursing. 116, 1, 11.

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