C U R R I C U L A R I N N OVAT I O N
A take-home tool kit that can save lives BY ANGELA WELLS O’CONNOR PHOTO BY NANCY WONG
Sarah Follman, MS4, left a career in corporate finance when her volunteer work in hospitals and substance abuse programs inspired her to apply to medical school. The Pritzker School of Medicine student was instrumental in developing, piloting and implementing the O.P.I.A.T.E. initiative — Outpatient Principles in Addiction Training and Education — that launched in spring 2019 in UChicago Medicine’s Emergency Department. The initiative provides a protocol for screening patients who may be at risk for opioid overdose and supplies them with life-saving naloxone to take home. Close contacts of patients with opioid use disorder are also eligible for the take-home kit. Having naloxone available outside of the healthcare setting allows anyone to potentially treat someone who has overdosed, including those witnessing an overdose who may be reluctant to call 911. The Association of American Medical Colleges recognized the program with a 2019 Curricular Innovation Award. “Medical students spend a lot of time learning detailed biochemical pathways and memorizing a lot of rare diagnoses, but the topics of addiction and treatment of substance use disorders get relatively little coverage for what feels like a sizeable problem,” Follman said. Through the program, first-year medical students enrolled in the Emergency Medicine elective receive a lecture on opioid use disorder, with special focus on the benefits of naloxone to treat opioid overdoses. During their ED shifts, the students use a survey to screen patients to identify those at risk for opioid overdose. If a patient screens positive, the student trains the patient on how to identify and respond to an overdose, including how to administer naloxone and the steps that should follow. After successful training, the student notifies the care team, who orders a naloxone kit to be dispensed to the patient.
Pritzker student Sarah Follman, MS4, helped develop the initiative to identify ED patients at risk for opioid overdose.
“On a busy ED shift, it can be challenging to identify patients at risk for overdose and have a conversation about naloxone, so we trained medical students to help with the screening and training process,” said emergency medicine physician P. Quincy Moore, MD, who developed, implemented and administers the O.P.I.A.T.E. program. “This adds significant value to the ED team, while also providing a critical educational experience for the students.”
students have enrolled in the elective and conducted screenings in the ED since the program launched
147 patients have been screened by the group
>40% P. Quincy Moore, MD, oversees the O.P. I.A.T.E. program in the Emergency Department.
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of these patients were found to be at risk of having or witnessing an overdose
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