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Prescription Opioid Misuse And Addiction: Healthcare’S Contribution To The Opioid Epidemic And What Can Be Done About It, Emily Larsen, Katrina Ecke

Nursing | Senior Theses

Up to one in four patients undergoing prolonged opioid therapy in a primary care setting battle opioid addiction. In 2020, the CDC found that more than 16,000 deaths involving prescription opioids (limited to natural and semi-synthetic opioids and methadone) had occurred, which is equivalent to about 45 deaths per day. Opioid overdose death can be identified through three distinct waves; increased prescribing of opioids in the 1990’s began the first wave, the beginning of the second wave came in 2010 with a rapid increase in heroin related overdose deaths, and in 2013 the third wave began with a significant increase …