Every day nurses all around the world help provide instrumental care to patients. This year the Canadian Nurses Association celebrates National Nursing Week with the theme #YesThisIsNursing.
Here at INDIVA, we find this theme most appropriate as we recognize nurses whose roles have evolved to support patients seeking therapeutic support through non-traditional medicine such as medical cannabis.
The American Cannabis Nurses Association (ACNA) defines cannabis nursing as care that incorporates knowledge of:
- The endocannabinoid system which includes the group of cannabinoid receptors located in the brain and throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems
- The safe use of herbal cannabis products
- The legal complexities associated with the use of cannabis
Most importantly, these nurses are patient advocates and educators. They support informing patients on how to effectively use cannabis by navigating doses, frequency and being aware of interaction with other medications.
With such limited research available and negative stigma associated with the industry, cannabis nurses are required to go above and beyond the call of duty, providing a hands-on approach in guiding and educating patients through their treatment. They play a big role in enlightening the community on cannabis as an option for medical treatment.
Cannabis nurse educators are challenged by legal issues, but advancements are being made by the American Nurses Credentialing Centre to establish certification.
As times continue to change and data becomes more available, nurses’ perspectives and understanding of their patient’s needs will be advantageous to the Canadian healthcare system and to licensed producers of cannabis.
The newly established Canadian Cannabis Nurses Association (CCNA) can be found on the web, Facebook, and Twitter. The creator and founder, Kelly Insley, is a cardio-metabolic registered nurse who works with chronic disease patients and has a background in eating disorders and bone marrow transplant nursing.
The four pillars of the CCNA are Collaborate, Advocate, Research and Educate. These pillars apply to both the public and the nurses. The CCNA executive board consists of nurses from a variety of backgrounds and specialties and an associate member consortium of academic scholars, physicians, and allied health professionals.
“Nurses are on the front line and are often the first person clients come in contact within the healthcare system,” said Kelly. “As cannabis is legalized, nurses can help educate and support the client through screening for drug interactions, look for treatment contradictions and help patients to mitigate unpleasant side-effects through client teaching. One could view it as a harm reduction approach in that we hope to help educate, assess, monitor, evaluate and prevent complications.”
Kelly believes that all members of the healthcare community must collaborate to support their patients to ensure clients don’t try to navigate the system on their own, leading to possible hazards to the patient’s health.
“All too often, people go to the hospital after naive ingestion that can be prevented with education,” she said. “Ideally, a multi-disciplinary approach including physicians and scholars would help inform changes to our national drug laws, promote better testing for contaminants and illuminate other fundamental changes needed in our basic support systems.”
By leveraging the expertise of nurses, there is an opportunity to alleviate the high costs of physicians and pharmacists and allow for the nurses to provide education, monitoring, and evaluation of clients.
As the paradigm in health care changes, the country will rely (as we so heavily do) on the expertise and compassion of nurses. It is for these reasons that we thank all nurses for their unwavering care for patients who need their help.
Happy Nursing Week!