The Creation of an Addiction Nursing Fellowship Program for Registered Nurses: A Unique Approach to Enhancing the Addiction-Treatment Workforce

Abstract

In 2020, Boston Medical Center and the Grayken Center for Addiction launched an addiction nursing fellowship to enhance registered nurses’ knowledge and skills related to the care of patients with substance use disorders and to improve patient experience and outcomes. This paper describes the development and essential components of this innovative fellowship, to our knowledge the first of its kind in the United States, with the goal of facilitating replication in other hospital settings.

Keywords

Addiction Nurse Addiction Nursing Addiction Nursing Fellowship Nursing Fellowship Substance Use Disorder Nursing

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (HHS Publication No. PEP21-07-01-003, NSDUH Series H-56). 2021. Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Injury Prevention - Healthy People 2030. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Accessed May 16, 2022. https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/injury-prevention

The Opioid Epidemic: Addressing the Growing Drug Overdose Problem. ANA IssueBrief. American Nurses Association. Accessed May 17, 2022. https://www.nursingworld.org/~4ae212/globalassets/docs/ana/ana_issue-brief-opioids_2016may20.pdf

Suen

Makam

Snyder

, et al. National prevalence of alcohol and other substance use disorders among emergency department visits and hospitalizations: NHAMCS 2014-2018. J Gen Intern Med. 2022;37(10):2420-2428. doi:10.1007/s11606-021-07069-w

Voon

Johnson

Small

Wood

Klimas

Nursing fellowship in addiction medicine: a novel program in a Canadian setting. J Addict Nurs. 2017;28(3):148-149. doi:10.1097/JAN.0000000000000179

Tierney

Finnell

Naegle

Mitchell

Pace

EM.

The future of nursing: accelerating gains made to address the continuum of substance use. Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2020;34(5):297-303. doi:10.1016/j.apnu.2020.07.010

Compton

Blacher

Nursing education in the midst of the opioid crisis. Pain Manag Nurs. 2020;21(1-2):35-42. doi:10.1016/j.pmn.2019.06.006

Nurses in the Workforce. American Nurses Association. Accessed May 15, 2022. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/workforce/

AACN Fact Sheet - Nursing. merican Association of Colleges of Nursing. Updated September 2022. Accessed April 19, 2023. https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-Information/fact-sheets/nursing-fact-sheet

10.

Bell

CAF

McCurry

Opioid use disorder education for acute care nurses: an integrative review. J Clin Nurs. 2020;29(17-18):3122-3135. doi:10.1111/jocn.15372

11.

Ford

Bammer

Becker

. The determinants of nurses’ therapeutic attitude to patients who use illicit drugs and implications for workforce development. J Clin Nurs. 2008;17(18):2452-2462. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2007.02266.x

12.

Wason

Potter

Alves

, et al. Addiction nursing competencies: a comprehensive toolkit for the addictions nurse. J Nurs Adm. 2021;51(9):424-429. doi:10.1097/NNA.0000000000001041

13.

Finnell

Tierney

Mitchell

AM.

Nursing: addressing substance use in the 21st century. Subst Abuse. 2019;40(4):412-420 (published correction appears in Subst Abus. 2020;41(4):526-530). doi:10.1080/08897077.2019.1674240

14.

Van Camp

Chappy

. The effectiveness of nurse residency programs on retention: a systematic review. AORN J. 2017;106(2):128-144. doi:10.1016/j.aorn.2017.06.003

15.

BMC Facts. Boston Medical Center. Updated January 2017. Accessed May 16, 2022. https://www.bmc.org/sites/default/files/For_Medical_Professionals/BMC-Facts.pdf

16.

Trowbridge

Weinstein

Kerensky

, et al. Addiction consultation services - linking hospitalized patients to outpatient addiction treatment. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2017;79:1-5. doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2017.05.007

17.

Training and Education. Boston Medical Center. Updated 2023. Accessed April 19, 2023. https://www.bmc.org/addiction/training-education

18.

Addiction Nursing Certification Board. Get Certified. Accessed April 18, 2023. https://www.ancbonline.org/

19.

Alford

LaBelle

Kretsch

, et al. Collaborative care of opioid-addicted patients in primary care using buprenorphine: five-year experience. Arch Intern Med. 2011;171(5):425-431. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2010.541

20.

United States Department of Labor. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics - Registered Nurses. United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Published March 31, 2022. Accessed February 20, 2023. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291141.htm

21.

United States Department of Labor. Occupational Employment Wage Statistics – Nurse Practitioners. United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Published March 31, 2022. Accessed February 20, 2023. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291171.htm

22.

Sherwood

. Quality and safety education for nurses: making progress in patient safety, learning from COVID-19. Int J Nurs Sci. 2021;8(3):249-251. doi:10.1016/j.ijnss.2021.05.009

23.

Education & Training. Providers Clinical Support System. Published November 20, 2019. Accessed August 31, 2022. https://pcssnow.org/education-training/