NURS 8310 Week 11 Discussion 2 Factors That Impact Population Health

Answer 3 for

Epidemiological approaches are key in analyzing population health problems. Population health problems have been one of the factors that increase disparities in healthcare provision in the U.S. across all ages. Such problems adversely affect various people, leading to the need to develop more effective and robust interventions that can duly address them (Hossain et al., 2020). A notable success has been found in this regard through the use of research evidence. Therefore, the aim of this assignment is to develop a write-up detailing a selected problem, including the environment and a summary of the selected population health problem in terms of person, place, and time. Besides, this paper will further explore the research methods that can be used in assessing and addressing the population health problem, the intervention that can be implemented, the impact of the health outcome, and the evaluation plan based on the health outcome.

The chosen Problem

Population health problems impact individuals and populations negatively. Therefore, prescription drug overdose and especially opioid crisis have been identified as the problem of focus. In the USA alone, drug overdose as a population health issue has led to more than 750,000 deaths in the last two decades. It is worth noting that over sixty-five percent of such mortality cases are due to opioids. While the problem is prominent these days, it commenced in the last century when pharmaceutical companies had assurances that the opioid pain killers would not lead to addictions, hence giving the firms a chance to start prescibing the drugs (Nam et al., 2018). Consequently, there was a constant rise in the prescription of opioids, which resulted in individuals misusing both the prescribed and the non-prescribed drugs. However, studies following this duration showed a high possibility of opioids being addictive (Nam et al., 2018). As such, opioid addiction and overuse were declared as a public health emergency.

In the year 2019, over 70,000 deaths occurred due to drug overdose, with the rates increasing by over 4% from the previous year. As earlier indicated, opioid overdose leads to most deaths among death cases due to drug overdose, with up to 73% of opioid overdose death cases resulting from synthetic opioids. Again up to 70% of the drug overdose deaths were attributed to opioid overdose. As of the year 2019, the mortality rates due to opioids were majorly among the White, non-Hispanic (72%) while Black non-Hispanic was 15%. It is also worth noting that opioid overdose and mortality rates due to opioid overdose have sharply risen in the U.S. in recent years (Monico et al., 2020)

The identified problem is majorly common among people who consume non-prescribed pain killers as their source of drug addiction. As earlier indicated, the issue has been on the rise in the last decade, and it has even worsened since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, calling for better measures to contain the situation. Research shows that the lockdown rules and other measures that restricted people’s movement in the wake of the coronavirus spread led to enhanced boredom leading to further risks of drug and substance abuse such as opioids.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2021), addiction, misuse, and overuse of synthetic substances such as fentanyl and opioids, and heroin, is a matter of concern as it affects social and public health hence negatively impacting people’s economic well-being. For example, the financial and economic impact of the opioid crisis has been estimated to be close to $80 billion annually, with the budget covering the costs needed for the people to engage with the criminal justice system, having to treat the resulting addiction, productivity losses, and the healthcare costs.

Data from the American Medical Association, 2021 indicates that deaths and overdoses resulting from drugs in on the rise and even though there have been numerous attempts to deal with the problem of a prescription drug overdose. Abusing these substances, alcohol, and drugs also results in numerous adverse destructive social aspects, which further lead to increased health disparities such as diminished productivity, financial constraints, and breaking and disruptions of family setups. In addition, the issue has also been shown to lead to child abuse, domestic violence, increased crime rates, and failure in school and education.

Due to the opioid crisis, more people get addicted, resulting in various mental illnesses that require further interventions and treatments. Besides, when individuals become addicts, they are more prone to homicide, suicide, and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS (Liang & Shi, 2019). As such, there have been efforts from various healthcare stakeholders, the federal government, and state governments