For the past two decades, the USA has been in the throes of an opioid crisis marked by a rising number of deaths; in 2016, opioids were responsible for most of the nation's estimated 64 000 fatal drug overdoses.¹ The problem began with overprescribing of opioid analgesics in the 1990s, which exposed pain patients to the risks of addiction and produced large surpluses of pain pills that were diverted for misuse by the larger community. Additionally, the escalating numbers of opioid-addicted Americans led to increased HIV and hepatitis C transmission among people who misuse these drugs by injecting them² and increased numbers of infants born dependent on opioids as a result of the mother's opioid use (neonatal abstinence syndrome).

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阿片类药物使用障碍的药物：弥合护理差距

在过去的二十年中，美国一直处于以阿片类药物危机为特征的死亡人数不断上升的状态。2016年，阿片类药物是造成该国估计超过64 000种致命药物过量的主要原因。¹问题始于1990年代对阿片类镇痛药的处方过多，这使疼痛患者面临成瘾的风险，并产生了大量多余的止痛药，这些药被广大社区滥用。此外，上瘾的阿片类药物人数的不断增加导致通过注射这些药物²滥用这些药物的人中HIV和丙型肝炎的传播增加，并且由于母亲使用阿片类药物而出生的依赖阿片类药物的婴儿数量增加（新生儿禁欲综合征） 。