Understanding addiction
and addressing stigma
I have been a nurse for several decades, much of that spent in the neonatal intensive care unit. I have cared for many, many babies suffering from neonatal withdrawal syndrome and I will readily admit that it wasn’t until several years ago that I truly began to understand addiction. Once you have at least a preliminary understanding of addiction, your entire approach to how you provide care to this population will shift.
As we are all working on evaluating and implementing a validated screening tool, it will be equally as important, if not more so, to educate all staff about the science of addiction. Utilizing a validated screening tool, whatever tool you choose, is really about starting a conversation with a woman to gain a better understanding of the world she lives in. If the questions on the screening tool are asked in haste, asked with condescension, asked with judgment, it is highly unlikely that any woman will feel safe enough to respond honestly.
In looking for resources on understanding addiction, I came across some videos on YouTube by Corey Waller, MD. Dr. Waller s a board-certified addiction and emergency medicine physician in Lansing, Michigan. He has done some strong work on explaining the neuroscience of addiction for all populations and speaks to addiction in pregnancy specifically. Some of his lectures are lengthy but I can assure you that they are worth your time to view. He is an engaging speaker and the depth of his knowledge about the topic of addiction is readily apparent.
Here are some links to Dr. Waller’s videos. This is not an extensive list but these are the videos that could be helpful in educating yourself and your staff.
Understanding the information in these videos will allow staff to approach women with substance abuse disorder with a greater level of empathy and understanding. Implementing a screening tool without the education regarding the best manner in which to ask screening questions will undoubtedly provide unintended negative results.