The Opioid Public Health Crisis: One Mother's Mission
Cammie Wolf Rice launched the Christopher Wolf Crusade (CwC) in 2018 in memory of her son, Christopher, who died from an opioid overdose. He became addicted due to the overprescribing of opioids for his pain after multiple surgeries as a teenager and young adult. In Cammie's experiences with her son's hospitalizations, not one healthcare provider gave her family information about the dangers of pain medication. Her experience was the catalyst to conceptualizing the role of Life Care Specialist and the need to add this new level of health care providers to hospital systems nationwide.
Opioid use and misuse are public-health emergencies, and innovations are needed to address the overprescribing epidemic. Neuman (2019) reports that the U.S. and Canada are two countries where opioid overprescribing after surgery appears to be common. Ladha (2019) finds that excessive postoperative opioid prescribing has been associated with increased risks of drug diversion, new long-term opioid use, and the development of opioid use disorder. The Trauma Resource Institute has partnered with her and the CwC to try to introduce innovation to the public health issue of opioid addiction.
The Life Care Specialist Program's goal is to establish Life Care Specialists (LCS) within hospitals nationwide. The LCS is part of an interdisciplinary treatment team collaborating on assessment and treatment. The specialist's primary focus is introducing an integrated behavior-specific intervention during inpatient hospitalization to decrease opioid utilization and improve pain management post-hospitalization.
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