Literature Collection

INTRODUCTION: Fatal overdoses from opioids increased four-fold from 1999 to 2009, and they are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50. Legislation has been passed by every state to increase access to naloxone but dispensing by community pharmacies remains low. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to pilot test a proactive opioid overdose counseling intervention and a passive naloxone intervention, and the implementation strategies developed to support their delivery, in rural community pharmacies on relevant implementation outcomes. METHODS: The interventions, implementation strategies, and the overall pilot study approach were developed in a collaborative partnership with a regional supermarket pharmacy chain. They selected 2 rural pharmacies to participate in the pilot study and 2 non-intervention pharmacies to serve as comparison sites. Two interventions were pilot tested in the 2 intervention pharmacies: 1)a proactive opioid overdose counseling intervention and 2) a passive naloxone intervention. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was utilized to evaluate adoption, feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness outcomes after the 3-month observation period. RESULTS: Between the 2 intervention pharmacies, 130 patients received the opioid overdose counseling intervention. 44 (33.8%) were prescribed and dispensed naloxone. Zero naloxone prescriptions were written or dispensed at the comparison pharmacies. Interviews with pharmacy staff found the interventions to be feasible, acceptable, and appropriate in their settings. CONCLUSION: This small scale pilot study in partnership with a regional supermarket pharmacy chain had positive results with a third of patients who received the opioid overdose counseling intervention being dispensed naloxone. However, the majority of patients did not receive naloxone indicating additional revisions to the intervention components and/or implementation strategies are needed to improve the overall impact of the interventions.

OBJECTIVES: To prevent opioid-related mortality, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) developed a national Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND) program. SETTING: VHA's OEND program sought national implementation of OEND across all medical facilities (n = 142). PRACTICE DESCRIPTION: This paper describes VHA's efforts to facilitate nationwide health care system-based OEND implementation, including the critical roles of VHA's national pharmacy services and academic detailing services. PRACTICE INNOVATION: VHA is the first large health care system in the United States to implement OEND nationwide. Launching the national program required VHA to translate a primarily community-based public health approach to OEND into a health care system-based approach that distributed naloxone to patients with opioid use disorders as well as to patients prescribed opioid analgesics. Key innovations included developing steps to implement OEND, pharmacy developing standard naloxone rescue kits, adding those kits to the VHA National Formulary, centralizing kit distribution, developing clinical guidance for issuing naloxone kits, and supporting OEND as a focal campaign of academic detailing. Other innovations included the development of patient and provider education resources (e.g., brochures, videos, accredited training) and implementation and evaluation resources (e.g., technical assistance, clinical decision support tools). EVALUATION: Clinical decision support tools that leverage VHA national data are available to clinical staff with appropriate permissions. These tools allow staff and leaders to evaluate OEND implementation and provide actionable next steps to help them identify patients who could benefit from OEND. RESULTS: Through fiscal year 2016, VHA dispensed 45,178 naloxone prescriptions written by 5693 prescribers to 39,328 patients who were primarily prescribed opioids or had opioid use disorder. As of February 2, 2016, there were 172 spontaneously reported opioid overdose reversals with the use of VHA naloxone prescriptions. CONCLUSION: VHA has successfully translated community-based OEND into health care system-based OEND targeting 2 patient populations. There is a tremendous amount that can be learned from VHA's experience implementing this novel health care innovation nationwide.

Background: Opioid overdose deaths constitute a public health crisis in the United States. Strategies for reducing opioid-related harm are underutilized due in part to clinicians' low knowledge about harm reduction theory and limited preparedness to prescribe naloxone. Educational interventions are needed to improve knowledge and attitudes about, and preparedness to address, opioid overdoses among medical students. Methods: Informed by the Department of Veterans Affairs' Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND) program and narrative medicine, we developed and led a mandatory workshop on harm reduction for clerkship medical students. Using validated scales, we assessed students' knowledge and attitudes about, and preparedness to address, opioid overdoses before the workshop and 6 weeks after. Results: Of 75 participating students from February through December 2017, 55 (73%) completed pre-workshop and 38 (51%) completed both pre- and post-workshop surveys. At baseline, 40 (73%) encountered patients with perceived at-risk opioid use in the previous 6 weeks, but only 11 (20%) recalled their teams prescribing naloxone for overdose prevention. Among those completing both surveys, knowledge about and preparedness to prevent overdose showed large improvement (Cohen's d = 0.85, P < .001; Cohen's d = 1.24, P < .001, respectively) and attitudes showed moderate improvement (Cohen's d = 0.32, P = .04). Discussion: Educational interventions grounded in harm reduction theory can increase students' knowledge and attitudes about, and preparedness to address, opioid overdoses.

BACKGROUND: Patients with opioid use disorders are at an increased risk for overdose death if they had a previous overdose, have co-occurring medical and psychiatric comorbidity, and are high-dose opioid users transitioning to relative abstinence or abstinence, i.e., those individuals discharging from drug treatment programs. Despite the success of opioid overdose prevention programs utilizing naloxone, residential substance abuse treatment centers often emphasize abstinence-based care for those suffering from addiction and do not adopt harm reduction approaches such as naloxone education and distribution. This performance improvement project reports the implementation of an opioid overdose prevention program provided to patients and their family members in a residential treatment setting. METHODS: Opioid-dependent inpatients (N = 47) along with their family members received overdose prevention training consistent with guidelines established by the Harm Reduction Coalition. Patient family members were queried regarding their awareness of past opioid overdose by the patient. A pre- and post-training questionnaire based on a 5-point Likert scale assessing ability to recognize overdose, fear of overdose, comfort in assisting with overdose, perception of life-threatening nature of addiction, and the value of overdose management was administered. Pre and post scores for each Likert scale were analyzed using paired 2-tailed t tests. RESULTS: Thirty-two percent of patient family members were aware that the patient had a prior overdose. Statistically significant improvements in the ability of patients and families to recognize an opioid overdose as well as in their comfort to assist with an overdose were demonstrated. The pre- and post-education responses were both notably high for perceived value in learning about overdose and prevention. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of opioid overdose prevention programs within residential treatment programs, sober living homes, and therapeutic communities would be well received and is strongly encouraged.

Equips health care providers, communities and local governments with material to develop practices and policies to help prevent opioid-related overdoses and deaths. Addresses issues for health care providers, first responders, treatment providers, and those recovering from opioid overdose.