Substance Use Disorders in Long-Term Care Settings: A Crisis of Care for Older Adults.

Many older adults struggle with lifelong addictions or become addicted to prescription drugs that they take for coping with physical or psychological pain. There has been little attention, however, focused on this problem in nursing homes, where powerful pain medications are administered routinely. The nursing home setting provides complex challenges for staff and administrators attempting to provide safe and high-quality care for older adults with substance use disorders. Nurses working in long-term care settings, hospitals, and the community need to be sensitive to the possibility of older adults being addicted to alcohol or drugs and identify strategies for addressing this problem. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 55(1), 24-27.].