Nursing Inquiry. 2020;27:e12329. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/nin | 1 of 11 https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12329 © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1 | INTRODUCTION Nursing has differentiated itself from other healthcare disciplines in that nursing has widely adopted its own definition of pain. While other health disciplines might rely on the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) definition, ‘an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage’ (Merskey & Bogduk, 1994, p. 209), a nursing definition of pain is whatever the experienc‐ ing person says it is, existing whenever and wherever the person says it does (McCaffery, 1968). Approaching patient encounters with this understanding of pain allows nurses to inherently provide pa‐ tient‐centered care that promotes human dignity. It enables nurses to enter healing relationships with patients valuing the primacy of patients’ interests and their right to self‐determination. The nurs‐ ing profession also distinguishes itself by strongly identifying with unique ethical codes. The American Nurses Association (ANA) adopted their first code of ethics in 1950, and the International Council of Nurses’ (ICN) adopted theirs in 1953. Among the ethical responsibilities of nurses, advocacy is identified as a defining ele‐ ment of nursing's ontology. It is a pillar of nursing according to the American Nurses Association (n.d.). It appears in the ICN’s definition of nursing (International Council of Nurses, 2002), and it is also one of the provisions articulated in the ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses (American Nurses Association, 2015). Despite having a unique, patient‐centered definition of pain and a role in which advocacy is central, the label drug‐seeking is used fre‐ quently by nurses in a variety of practice settings. In addition to, or perhaps because of, the widespread use of the term, there are a va‐ riety of meanings nurses are attempting to communicate when using the term; there is no single definition of the term drug‐seeking. It is used as an adjective to describe patients and as a verb to describe patient behavior itself, and it is also used to describe patients’ moti‐ vations for their behavior. In practice, it lacks conceptual clarity, yet Received: 10 September 2019 | Revised: 9 October 2019 | Accepted: 15 October 2019 DOI: 10.1111/nin.12329 REVIEW Drug‐seeking: A literature review (and an exemplar of stigmatization in nursing) Darcy Copeland 1,2 1 School of Nursing, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO, USA 2 St Anthony Hospital, Centura Health, Lakewood, CO, USA Correspondence Darcy Copeland, School of Nursing, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO, USA; St Anthony Hospital, Centura Health, Lakewood, CO, USA. Email: Darcy.copeland@unco.edu Abstract Despite its lack of conceptual clarity and uniform definition, the term drug‐seek‐ ing is used frequently by nurses from a variety of practice environments. The drugs patients are referred to as seeking are often pain medications. This is important be‐ cause nursing has widely adopted a patient‐centric definition of pain. Nursing also has a robust ethical code that places high value on human dignity and nurses’ role in patient advocacy. A review of literature was conducted with the aims of describ‐ ing whether/how the term drug‐seeking has changed over time and to determine whether the use of the term in nursing literature is consistent with nursing values. Use of the term has shifted from objective counts of patient requests for medication to a confusing mixture of observable patient behavior and subjective interpretations of patient motivation. Its use is not consistent with nursing values. It is, in fact, a good illustration of stigmatization in nursing. Stigmatization is contrary to nursing values. Nurses in practice, research, education, authors, reviewers, and editors all have a role in ending this stigmatization. KEYWORDS drug‐seeking, ethics, nurse, nursing practice, nursing values, patient relationship, stigma