Substance Abuse Case Study

A Study in Substance Abuse: Personal Safety Personal safety is a very broad topic, ranging from a risk for falls to risk for infection. It is the duty of the nurse to prevent any unsafe events from happening to their patients in the healthcare facility in which they work, in addition to teaching patients about how to minimize risks in their home environment. Certain populations are at greater risk for injury or harm for many reasons such as impaired cognition and immobility, both of which relate to substance abusers. The effect of any drug increases the risk for unsafe events to occur.
Case Study Several months ago Trish, an18-year-old senior in high school, made her way to a private rave where she was introduced to ketamine and consumed

Ketamine is a tranquilizer that is used in operations and other medical procedures. Because of the anesthetic effect, users do not feel pain which could lead to several types of injuries (“Ketamine”). An example would be if Trish decided to inject herself with ketamine and then walked down the stairs and fell, breaking several ribs. She feels no pain from the injury and now is at high risk for puncturing a lung. Another side effect of ketamine is what is commonly known as a “K-hole,” which is when the users feel like they are not in their own body (“Ketamine”). If the individual vomits and has no control of their body, they could aspirate or choke on the emesis causing death. Another problem that ketamine abusers may encounter is that they become a prime target for sexual assault because of their altered mental and physical

352).” When patients present to the healthcare facility, they may slur their words, walk in a staggered fashion, or display inappropriate behavior relative to the situation. Alcohol screening should be done on all patients believed to be using alcohol, especially if under the legal drinking age. There are two common question-based tests that may assist in identifying individuals who are abusing alcohol. The first test is The Fast Alcohol Screening Test (FAST). This test is a series of five questions, and each response has an indicated score. A score of three or higher is indicative of alcohol misuse. The second test that may be used is The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test – Consumption (AUDIT-C). This test is a series of three questions in which a score of five or higher indicates high-risk drinking (Hamilton and Baker, 2013, p. 353). *Cite more of this. Cover yourself.  Ketamine is much more difficult to screen for. Unless the nurse is able to test for or observe the effects of the drug, there may be no indication other than weight loss that the patient is using ketamine. However, the use of this drug can have disastrous effects on the respiratory system. When a patient on ketamine is admitted for care, the nurse may use end-tidal carbon dioxide measurements and pulse oximetry to monitor these respiratory effects (Burnett, Watters, Barringer, Griffith, & Frascone,