Therapeutic Scripting
Therapeutic language can help create a critical caring connection between the nurse and the SUD patient. Hospitalization unexpectedly places patients with active SUD in an environment with restrictions that may trigger them to feel unsafe, uncomfortable and out of control. Therapeutic, non-judgmental, language helps create a positive, supportive environment or care that—particularly for SUD patients—can make all the difference.
Scripted Language Examples:
We want to make sure that all our patients get the best care possible and so we ask all our patients’ questions regarding substance use disorder. Although you may not have come to the hospital to stop using substances your safety is most important to us.
It will help us to know the quantity and duration of your use as this will help us provide you appropriate medications to ensure your safety and comfort. It is also helpful for us to know if you have ever been hospitalized for withdrawal from alcohol or benzodiazepines, as withdrawal from these substances can be particularly dangerous.
Have you ever withdrawn from opioid in the past? What medications were most helpful for you?
Our goal is that you receive the highest quality of care.
We’ll keep all information you share with us confidential and the only people who see this information will be members of your care team and other staff who are authorized to see your medical record.
Teaching and Safety
Many people, including nursing staff, think of patients with substance use disorders as drug seeking, manipulative, hopeless, selfish, and lacking in the desire to change. This perspective makes engagement with the patient difficult, and the work can become unrewarding for the nurse. The nurse must challenge herself to reframe the way she is thinking about the patient’s behavior. There are several types of beliefs that the nurse can reframe.
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Harvard Health Blog:
News articles, radio, and television frequently report on the current opioid crisis. As the death toll has mounted, the media has importantly covered many aspects of the crisis. Unfortunately, this coverage often focuses on the very visible individuals who continue to struggle with active addiction. What is missing is a narrative of hope for a chronic disease which is as treatable as diabetes or high blood pressure.
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