TY - JOUR
KW - Ambulatory Care Facilities/organization & administration
KW - Analgesics, Opioid/poisoning
KW - antidote
KW - Community Pharmacy Services/organization & administration
KW - Drug Overdose/prevention & control
KW - Humans
KW - intranasal
KW - naloxone
KW - Naloxone/therapeutic use
KW - Narcotic Antagonists/therapeutic use
KW - Opioid-Related Disorders/drug therapy
KW - Opioids
KW - Overdose
KW - Pharmacists/organization & administration
KW - Professional Role
AU - A. M. Bailey
AU - D. P. Wermeling
A1 - 
AB - BACKGROUND: Deaths related to opioid overdose have increased in the past decade. Community-based pharmacy practitioners have worked toward overcoming logistic and cultural barriers to make naloxone distribution for overdose prevention a standard and accepted practice. OBJECTIVE: To describe outpatient naloxone dispensing practices, including methods by which practitioners implement dispensing programs, prescribing patterns that include targeted patient populations, barriers to successful implementation, and methods for patient education. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with providers to obtain insight into the practice of dispensing naloxone. Practitioners were based in community pharmacies or clinics in large metropolitan cities across the country. RESULTS: It was found that 33% of participating pharmacists practice in a community-pharmacy setting, and 67% practice within an outpatient clinic-based location. Dispensing naloxone begins by identifying patient groups that would benefit from access to the antidote. These include licit users of high-dose prescription opioids (50%) or injection drug users and abusers of prescription medications (83%). Patients were identified through prescription records or provider screening tools. Dispensing naloxone required a provider's prescription in 5 of the 6 locations identified. Only 1 pharmacy was able to exercise pharmacist prescriptive authority within their practice. CONCLUSION: Outpatient administration of intramuscular and intranasal naloxone represents a means of preventing opioid-related deaths. Pharmacists can play a vital role in contacting providers, provision of products, education of patients and providers, and dissemination of information throughout the community. Preventing opioid overdose-related deaths should become a major focus of the pharmacy profession.
BT - The Annals of Pharmacotherapy
C5 - Opioids & Substance Use; Education & Workforce
CP - 5
CY - United States
DO - 10.1177/1060028014523730
IS - 5
JF - The Annals of Pharmacotherapy
N2 - BACKGROUND: Deaths related to opioid overdose have increased in the past decade. Community-based pharmacy practitioners have worked toward overcoming logistic and cultural barriers to make naloxone distribution for overdose prevention a standard and accepted practice. OBJECTIVE: To describe outpatient naloxone dispensing practices, including methods by which practitioners implement dispensing programs, prescribing patterns that include targeted patient populations, barriers to successful implementation, and methods for patient education. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with providers to obtain insight into the practice of dispensing naloxone. Practitioners were based in community pharmacies or clinics in large metropolitan cities across the country. RESULTS: It was found that 33% of participating pharmacists practice in a community-pharmacy setting, and 67% practice within an outpatient clinic-based location. Dispensing naloxone begins by identifying patient groups that would benefit from access to the antidote. These include licit users of high-dose prescription opioids (50%) or injection drug users and abusers of prescription medications (83%). Patients were identified through prescription records or provider screening tools. Dispensing naloxone required a provider's prescription in 5 of the 6 locations identified. Only 1 pharmacy was able to exercise pharmacist prescriptive authority within their practice. CONCLUSION: Outpatient administration of intramuscular and intranasal naloxone represents a means of preventing opioid-related deaths. Pharmacists can play a vital role in contacting providers, provision of products, education of patients and providers, and dissemination of information throughout the community. Preventing opioid overdose-related deaths should become a major focus of the pharmacy profession.
PP - United States
PY - 2014
SN - 1542-6270; 1060-0280
SP - 601
EP - 606
EP - 
T1 - Naloxone for opioid overdose prevention: pharmacists' role in community-based practice settings
T2 - The Annals of Pharmacotherapy
TI - Naloxone for opioid overdose prevention: pharmacists' role in community-based practice settings
U1 - Opioids & Substance Use; Education & Workforce
U2 - 24523396
U3 - 10.1177/1060028014523730
VL - 48
VO - 1542-6270; 1060-0280
Y1 - 2014
ER -