NCAP and The NC Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Committee

NCAP and PDAAC

NCAP Partnering to Elevate Awareness of Pharmacist-Provided Services as Part of the Solutions to Addiction and other Chronic Illness

Since June 2016, NCAP has been a participant in the North Carolina Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Committee (PDAAC). A legislative mandate led to the establishment of this Committee by Governor McCory, and the inter-disciplined representatives within this group have been meeting quarterly. Late last summer the Chronic Disease and Injury Section within the North Carolina Division of Public Health asked NCAP to take the lead on creating an on-demand webinar that would provide easy accessible education for pharmacists on the naloxone standing order and other important information regarding the opioid crisis. This was an excellent opportunity for our Association to partner with the Division of Public Health on such an important public health initiative. NCAP members Cathy Huie, Jerry McKee and Vera Reinstein took on this special project, and in November NCAP accredited and launched the on-demand webinar entitle “The Pharmacist and Naloxone: Opportunity to Save Lives.” Pharmacists who watch the webinar and complete the accompanying quiz may request one (1) hour of correspondence continuing education at no charge. To access, go to our website at www.ncpharmacists.org under the webinar tab or click the graphic below. The plan moving forward is for NCAP to build off of the success of this webinar and to utilize another special project teams under the direction of the Education Committee to develop a series of additional educational webinars or live programming for other topics related to the opioid crisis. Currently we are exploring topics such as Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral for Treatment (SBIRT) training for pharmacists, how to use pain agreements or contracts with patients in your pharmacy, how to utilize the information within the CSRS to initiate intervention, as well as mental health first aid training. If you are a pharmacist who has experience working with patients in any of these areas and you are interested in helping NCAP develop these types of educational offerings, please contact us at 984-439-1646 or email Linda Goswick at linda@ncpharmacists.org.

At the last PDAAC meeting in 2016, I had the opportunity to speak on behalf of NCAP and our profession. My presentation addressed the roles of the pharmacist in helping with the opioid crisis. I shared with the audience how the opioid crisis is a multifaceted problem for which there will be no one solution to the problem. Instead we need to begin thinking outside of the normal approaches, and we need to look at untapped resources. I spoke about how pharmacists have been an underutilized resource for far too long. I gave information on how there are over 12,000 licensed pharmacists actively working within our state; and there are 2026 community pharmacies across North Carolina. I gave examples of how pharmacists could help bridge the gap between primary care and behavioral health, and I shared examples of means by which pharmacists could help from education and needle exchange programs to screening and assessment to collaborating with physicians in the

provision of treatment programs for addiction to carryout pain management agreements with chronic pain patients. I had Drs. Courtenay Wilson (PharmD) and Blake Fagan (MD) shared their experience with their Asheville-based, collaborative practice, outpatient medication assisted treatment program for addiction.

At this meeting we caught the attention of a number of groups, including, once again the Chronic Disease and Injury Section within the North Carolina Division of Public Health. A couple of representatives from this group have now volunteered to work with NCAP on a piece of legislation that would include broadening our collaborative practice authority in the interest of improving patient care for those with addiction as well as other chronic illnesses. Time will tell, but currently it is looking as though our March 22nd Pharmacy Legislative Day is going to be very engaging. Watch for more information to come soon!

Penny Shelton