Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
The aim of this paper is to outline this position with reference to the evidence for harm reduction, and to argue that harm reduction needs to be implemented into mainstream healthcare settings to reduce the personal and societal burden of problematic alcohol and other drug use.
Findings/Key points
In this perspective paper, it is argued that the role of nurses in promoting and utilising harm reduction as part of their regular practice is essential to both reducing harm from alcohol and other drug use, engaging individuals who use alcohol and other drugs in healthcare services, and providing a means to accept individuals as they are to build trust and rapport for engagement in addiction treatment when they are ready, and at their own pace. Nurses, by virtue of their role and number in the healthcare landscape (approximately 28 million globally), are ideally placed to implement harm reduction in their practice to achieve better outcomes for individuals who use alcohol and other drugs.
