School of Nursing makes opioid education key part of advanced practice nursing curriculum

anthony-Ramsey
SON Director Tony Ramsey and Assistant Professor of Nursing Megan Hebdon will incorporate the newest CDC guidelines into the curriculum about opioid prescription and pain management to the SON's advanced practice nursing or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) candidates.

Radford University's School of Nursing will provide in-depth education related to opioid prescribing for its nurse practitioner students. The SON is part of the National Opioid Education Campaign, a partnership of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the White House and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN).

Beginning this summer, Assistant Professor of Nursing Megan Hebdon and SON Director Tony Ramsey will incorporate the CDC's curriculum to address opioids at an extensive level in NURS 724 Chronic Illness, an advanced practice nursing or Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) class.

Radford is joining 191 schools of nursing that have committed to this national effort. According to the CDC, approximately 100 Americans died from overdose every day in 2010. Prescription drugs were involved in more than half of the 38,300 overdose deaths that year and opioid pain relievers were involved in over 16,600 of these deaths. The initiative and Radford’s participation was featured in the program’s launch by the White House on April 29.

"Our DNP students will be part of the responsible, methodological approach to long-term pain management," said Ramsey, who serves the AACN’s Governmental Affairs Committee, which was instrumental in development and adoption of the new curriculum. "There are alternatives to high-powered pain medications and advanced practice nurses are critical to patient education about their choices and proper use of all medications."

May 26, 2016