Historic evolution of the methadone maintenance program in Catalonia

Identifier:  TFG:2693

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG2693

Authors:  Lozano Vigil, Selene

Abstract:
At present, methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is the most commonly used strategy to treat heroin addiction globally, and nursing continues to take an active role in caring for these patients while managing MMT programs. Accordingly, an ongoing data updating and a health situation revision are paramount. In this regard, the purpose of this study, which has got two stages, is to perform a descriptive analysis of the different official documents issued by the Ministry of Health and the Department of Health of Catalonia. The first stage intends to analyze statistical data unearthed in the official documents to study the evolution of MMT programs and the second stage, which conducts a systemized literature review, inspects several articles covering issues about caring MMT patients and heroin use to later compare their findings to the official documents that were analyzed during the first stage. The conclusions of this study suggest that MMT programs have led to a generalized improvement of patients' health and welfare over the past few years. It also suggests that MMT has dramatically reduced morbimortality and drug-related criminality rates while improving the employment and the social relations of patients. This study also intends to highlight the need for further enhancement of MMT programs by making them more holistic and tailored, now that heroin use rates remain high, as well as the importance of specifically trained professionals in this matter.