[Nursing care in ambulatory methadone programs. A comparative literature study between The Netherlands and The United...

In this article, the results are discussed of a literature study on nursing care for heroin addicts in out-patient methadone maintenance clinics in the Netherlands and the United States. In the Netherlands, the most important aim of methadone maintenance is to limit the harm caused by heroin use. Community based methadone maintenance is the subject in several Dutch evaluation studies. Care is described in these studies, however the medical role is not distinguished from the nursing role and functions. Research variables are basic care assumptions and client satisfaction. In the USA, heroin misuse is considered a disease more than in the Netherlands. Nurses in the American methadone maintenance clinics have a more independent function compared with the nurses in the Netherlands. The main variables in the American studies on nursing care in the out-patient methadone maintenance clinics are the nursing process as well as the development and testing of nursing interventions. Further nursing research concerning the methadone maintenance clinics in the Netherlands is needed because the nursing contribution in maintaining and improving the basic health status of the heroin misuser is of vital importance. The American nursing research and the associated outcomes could be used as a guideline.