Effect of Innovative Opioid Risk-Reduction Curriculum for Resident Physicians on the Frequency of Resident Naloxone Prescription - Abstract
Introduction: Opioid overdose is a preventable cause of death in the United States and timely administration of naloxone, a reversal agent, can be a life-saving intervention. Brief curricular intervention has been shown to improve naloxone prescription rates, and demonstrate improved knowledge among internal medicine residents.
Methods: Our study examined the difference in knowledge before and after a 45-minute trivia-based, competitive educational program and assessment on opioid overdose and naloxone distribution (OEND) practices for eight, specialty-specific didactic sessions. The study’s primary outcome was the frequency of resident-issued naloxone prescriptions, measured for two weeks prior to the first training, for two month-long periods concurrent with the trainings and for two weeks following resident trainings. We hypothesized that by providing innovative OEND instruction, naloxone prescription rates and resident knowledge of OEND practices would improve.
Results: In six of the seven survey pre- and post- intervention survey questions, residents self-reported statistically significant improvement in knowledge and practice confidence as measured by change in mean response score. Comparison of rate of naloxone prescriptions prior to, during and following curricular implementation did not demonstrate significant change as measured by Chi-square testing.
Conclusions: While innovative resident OEND training did correspond with improved resident self-reported knowledge, it did not correspond with a significant change in resident behavior as measured by naloxone prescription rates.