Discussion 1: Evidence Base in Design NURS 6050
Discussion 1 Evidence Base in Design NURS 6050
Mental health and substance abuse are issues that continue to impact public health and need for effective strategies based on effective legislations at state and federal levels. The H.R bill 7316 focuses on amending Public Health Service Act to offer for the establishment or operation of an Emergency Mental Health and Substance Use Training and Technical Assistance Center with the aim of dealing with mental health issues associated with substance use disorders. The legislation is essential because of increasing prevalence of substance abuse, especially associated with mental health cares across the country. The rise in emergency mental health cases is the reason for the drive by representative Rose Max from the 11th Congressional district who seeks to ensure that there are designated centers explicitly for emergency mental health and substance abuse technical training for healthcare providers and facilities with the aim of enhancing overall care delivery and increased accessibility (Congress.GOV., 2020). The representative introduced the bill in the last Congress and aims at improving the training that professionals get in evaluating and implementing treatment for mental health issues and substance abuse emergencies.
The need to train professionals is critical so that they can possess the necessary skills, especially in emergency centers to treat mental health and substance abuse patients. There is a significant need to increase access to the specially trained professionals in healthcare settings, especially in mental health practices and situations. through effective training of the professionals, they will be self-aware and enhance their stress coping mechanisms while developing the willingness to health mental health and substance abuse patients who visit their practice settings (Stephenson, 2020). Through the training, the professionals would acquire critical skills and offer high quality care for better mental health patients. Existing studies have consistently portrayed mental health patients as lacking resources, access to emergency care intervention and face stigma from society (Stephenson, 2020). They are always considered as “attention-seeking” and drug abuse seen as a way for individuals to “waste time” of the healthcare professional. However, effective training will ensure that the health care professionals, especially those dealing with mental health patients, have adequate training and expertise as well as resources to handle their duties. By educating the professionals, they will have a positive and different mindset when dealing with mental health and substance abuse patients in their practice setting.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that overdose involving opioids kills close to 80,000 individuals each year. The overdose pandemic impacts efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 and ensure that more Americans have mitigations to reduce substance abuse and seek mental health interventions (CDC, 2021). Substance abuse contributes to costly social, physical, mental and public health problems, especially increased cost of spending on health care among low-income families and individuals. these include domestic and sexual violence, crime and homicide and teenage pregnancy among other public health concerns. Therefore, helping individuals with mental health problems emanating from substance abuse incidences is essential to lowering the negative effects associated with their use.
A majority of these patients require mental health services due to the effects of the drugs that they are using. The implication is that having the legislation and ensuring that a center exists to train mental health providers like psychiatrists will be essential in addressing the issue. The evidence shows the need to support the proposed policy as it will help in reducing the overall public health expenditure and improving access to emergency care for these individuals (Stephenson, 2020). Mental health care remains a neglected area and such an initiative demonstrates the serious efforts to tackle the problem for better patient outcomes
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2021 March 25). Data Overview:
The Drug Overdose Epidemic: Behind the Numbers. https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/data/index.html
Congress.GOV. (2020). H.R.7316 – To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the
establishment or operation of a center to be known as the Emergency Mental Health and Substance Use Training and Technical Assistance Center. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7316
Healthy People 2020 (2020). Chapter 40: Substance Abuse (SA).
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hpdata2020/HP2020MCR-C40-SA.pdf
Stephenson, J. (2020). Drug overdose deaths head toward record number in 2020, CDC
warns. JAMA Health Forum,1(10), pp. e201318-e201318.
When politics and medical science intersect, there can be much debate. Sometimes anecdotes or hearsay are misused as evidence to support a particular point. Despite these and other challenges, however, evidence-based approaches are increasingly used to inform health policy decision-making regarding causes of disease, intervention strategies, and issues impacting society. One example is the introduction of childhood vaccinations and the use of evidence-based arguments surrounding their safety.