Addiction and Substance Related Disorders: Nursing Care

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering substance use disorders, clinical terms, screening tools, and pharmacological treatments based on lecture materials.

Tolerance

A state in which higher doses of a drug are required to achieve the desired effect.

Abuse

Use of a substance for purposes of intoxication or beyond its intended use.

Addiction

Continued use of substances (or reward-seeking behaviors) despite adverse consequences.

Intoxication

Using a substance to excess, above the intended effect.

Use

The ingestion, smoking, sniffing, or injection of a mind-altering substance.

Withdrawal

Symptoms occurring when a substance is no longer used.

Relapse

An expected part of the chronic disease of addiction involving a cycle of use-detoxification-sobriety.

Wernicke’s encephalopathy

A condition resulting from thiamine deficiency characterized by vision changes (paralysis of ocular muscles and diplopia), ataxia, and confusion.

Korsakoff’s syndrome

An irreversible condition resulting from thiamine deficiency characterized by confusion, short-term memory loss, and confabulation.

CIWA-Ar

An Alcohol Withdrawal Assessment tool measuring $10$ categories including nausea, tremor, paroxysmal sweats, anxiety, and disturbances.

Alcohol Withdrawal Delirium

A medical emergency occurring $2$ to $3$ days after stopping alcohol, causing severe disorientation, psychosis, and cardiac dysrhythmias.

Disulfiram (Antabuse)

An aversion therapy medication that creates a toxic reaction including tachycardia, hypotension, and nausea when combined with alcohol.

Naltrexone (ReVia/Vivitrol)

A medication that suppresses cravings and pleasurable effects of both alcohol and opioids.

Acamprosate (Campral)

An oral medication taken $3$ times/day to reduce cravings for alcohol.

Flumazenil (Romazicon)

The reversal agent used for benzodiazepine overdose.

Agonist

Drugs or chemicals that bind to a receptor and cause physiological responses, such as heroin or methadone.

Antagonist

A chemical that blocks the activation of cell receptors to prevent a response, such as Naloxone.

Naloxone (Narcan)

An opioid antagonist used to reverse respiratory depression in overdose; it is active for $30-80$ minutes.

Morphine Pupil Mnemonic

‘MorPHINE: Fine’; indicates that pupils in morphine overdose are constricted.

Amphetamine Pupil Mnemonic

‘AmPHETamine: Fat’; indicates that pupils in amphetamine overdose are dilated.

Clonidine

A medication that assists with opioid withdrawal effects like diarrhea and nausea but does not reduce cravings.

Methadone

A synthetic opioid agonist used for withdrawal and long-term maintenance that eliminates symptoms without producing euphoria in dependent persons.

Buprenorphine (Subutex)

A partial opioid agonist used for detoxification and maintenance that activates receptors less strongly than full agonists.

Varenicline (Chantix)

A non-nicotine medication for smoking cessation that targets nicotine receptors and may cause mood changes or suicidality.

Bupropion (Wellbutrin/Zyban)

A medication that blocks reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine to treat depression and help with tobacco cessation.

OARS

The four communication techniques for Motivational Interviewing: Open questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, and Summarizing.

The Righting Reflex

The natural inclination to ‘make it better’ by telling a patient what to do, which can inadvertently create resistance.

Harm Reduction

Evidence-based practices, such as syringe disposal or fentanyl test strips, designed to decrease health and social harms without requiring abstinence.

Triangulation

A family concept from ATI Chapter $8$ involving a three-person emotional configuration.