Nursing interventions for current health problems

Pregnancy and Drug Abuse

The drug abuse menace has been indicated to be one of the leading factors that negatively affect people at whatever stage of life right from the fetus stage to the fully grown baby and the adulthood. There were astonishing statistics from the 2008 and 2009 data that relates to the pregnant women and drug abuse. It is indicated that the drug abuse by pregnant women who are younger was higher than the elderly ones. The percentages of pregnant women between the ages of 15 to 17 and abused drugs stood at 15.8% of them, a figure that is relatively higher that that of women in the same age gap who are not pregnant at 13% (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2011).

These are grim statistics that definitely puts this healthcare problem at the forefront and require the intervention of the entire society and all concerned agencies to ensure that the issue of drug abuse is sufficiently handled and reduced to safeguard the future generations. In order to combat this among the pregnant women, there needs to be a comprehensive Ante Natal Care focus on the issue of pregnancy and drug abuse. The program should be one that covers the assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation of the ANC concerning drug abuse.

One goal of the program is to combat the increasing number of pregnant teenagers using drugs within the locality as will be determined by the attendance in our health facility through the three steps; the primary prevention, the secondary prevention and the tertiary prevention. The target is to take the percentage down from the national 15% to 10% within the next three years. This can only be achieved through this program since it will educate the pregnant women on the dangers of drug abuse during pregnancy, and in turn they will educate others within this community.

There are various levels that this drug use prevention will be effected so as to achieve the above goal:

The primary level will be focused towards ensuring the abuse of drugs does not take toll on the teenagers, even before they are pregnant and for every teenager who will test to be pregnant in the region, there will be an immediate guidance to ensure they cope with the situation and not end up on drug use as a coping mechanism. The teenagers will be educated on the dangers of engaging in drug use and the primary target will be the girls and the pregnant girls. This will ensure the girls are given factual information of how drug use during pregnancy can and will endanger their own lives and that of the infant.

The secondary level will come in for those pregnant teenagers already using the drugs and education of harmful effects of drug abuse and coping methods will be taught. This will also include the necessary treatments in line with the particular drug that the mother is using with the aim of protecting the infant from the effects of the drug. Here also will involve the professionals from the healthcare sector who will regularly help guide the mother in the proper medication during the pregnancy and a bid to withdraw from the vice.